You're Only Decieved Once
by SariaSubi-kun
Summary: CHAPTER 1 REUPLOADED, PLEASE READ. THE REST OF THE STORY IS STILL UNDERGOING RECONSTRUCTION.
1. New Girl: I Found You, Seto Kaiba

**You're Only Deceived Once**

_**By SariaSubi-kun**_

**SariaSubi:** Hey! A Yu-gi-oh fic! ::does a dance:: Somethin different! Yu-gi-oh is one of my faves, but the card game(and video game for that matter) is interesting, too.

Setting: This starts right after Duelist Kingdom and follows the Battle City timeline, however, many of the events have been altered to my distinct liking. Don't worry, it won't suck --;;

* * *

**Chapter 1**

The looming clouds over Domino City held back their tears as the rain stopped for only a moment. The ground was a slick silver, the flat rivers of rainwater running down the sidewalks that no one dared to walk. A car zoomed down an empty street, but the lights stayed on inside and no one else came out.

The air was hot and humid, and the remnants of summer lingered, not wanting to leave without the final rainfall. A lanky, lonesome figure ventured out onto the empty avenue from behind a dark alleyway, arms crossed over her chest, trying to ignore the shiver from the cold drops of water that ran down her bare arms. The girl only donned jeans and a thin yellow blouse, and the blouse was opened to a skimpy undershirt. Her skin paled under her body's loss of heat, an unfamiliar feeling, and she looked up to the gray sky, her navy blue hair plastered to her face. She had put it up, hoping to avoid the problem, but half of it came out and stuck to her pointy face and her square-rimmed glasses.

_Has it stopped raining?_

With a shake of her head and a half-shiver, half-sigh, she trudged on through the building fog on the wet sidewalks. She fumbled without looking for her messenger bag and pulled out a sheet of paper with a list on it. About then things were listed, and only one was check. She rolled her eyes and sighed with annoyance before she stuffed it back into her bag.

As soon as the girl turned the corner, she came upon a shorter street with a small shop across it that flashed "KAME" in funky lettering. The girl stopped and tore out her list again, then looked at the store with her eyebrows raised. "Game Shop, eh? Kind of a crappy location if you ask me. Meh." She shrugged to herself and walked across the short street and kicked the door open with little care.

A little bell rang, and a short old man came from the back room and met her at the counter. "Miss!" he greeted with surprise. "Hello and welcome to our game shop! I am surprised, though, that you came here with the weather outside. Here, let me get you a towel."

"Thank you." She shrugged some water out of her ear and tried to peel her wet hair off of her neck, looking extremely annoyed with her own body. She accepted the towel and immediately put it around her neck. "I was wondering what kind of cards you have."

"Well, we have many cards. We have Magic, we have lots of trading cards, and we have—"

Immediately she stopped him, as if she had to rush to the point. "No sir," she spoke calmly, "I meant Duel Monster cards." She put her hands in her pockets and leaned back.

"Ah, yes, I was just getting to that. Here, let me show you. I got a new shipment just today in fact! I have some pretty interesting cards. Let me get the box." The girl nodded as he left and looked around the store. She tapped for foot as she waited, looking at the rare rookie and first edition cards that were in glass cases on the walls.

From another hallway she heard footsteps and looked in that direction. As she narrowed her eyes, she saw the shadow of a small figure coming. _The old man?__ No…someone different._ She awaited for them to emerge; but before the shadow revealed itself, it called out, "Ojisan! I was wondering if—" Then, from the hallway, a short boy looked around the shop, seemingly not noticing the girl. "Ojisan? Grandpa, where are you?" He surveyed the room once more, and then finally his big eyes found her.

"Oh! Miss, are you looking for something?" He stepped fully into view and smiled like a regular employee would to a customer. _So does he work here to? Oh, I know that face, and I thought the King of Games himself would do a bit more than watch his grandfather's shop._

She shook her head. "Nope. Your grandfather is getting what I need in the back."

"Oh. Alright then." The boy just stood there for an awkward moment, but then glanced up at the girl again to find she had a strange kind of smile on her face. "Miss?"

Her strange smile left her face, and she took two steps toward him and looked down at him with an eyebrow raised. Then she smiled again. "I knew it. Yugi Mutou, in the flesh.

Yugi was taken back a bit by the girl's sudden knowledge of him, like he was some celebrity, and stuttered his response at first. "Yes, I am."

"The same Yugi Mutou that beat Pegasus and won first place in Duelist Kingdom…the same Yugi Mutou that's called around Japan the 'King of Games'…"

He blushed a little. "Y-yes."

The girl's lips curled into a grin that spread across her milky white complexion. "Well, then, this is quite unexpected." Then, she lowered her head and said in a low whisper to herself. "Not everyday you run into top competition. Heh, heh." Yugi looked up quizzically up at her, but then just shook it off—it was best not to show your opinions of customers to their face.

She then lifted her head again, the navy blue strands falling away from her face. Luckily, there was a more settling smile on her face. "Oh, dear, where are my manners. My name is Matsu, it's very nice to meet you, Yugi." She closed her eyes happily and extended her pale hand.

Yugi's features relaxed and he smiled back, reaching up and shaking her hand. "So, Matsu, you're a duelist?"

She nodded. "Uh-huh." Then she cocked an eyebrow. "You mean…?"

Yugi looked at her, confused. "Huh?"

Matsu shook her head, before she slapped her forehead and muttered to herself, "Oh dear… this isn't good…I guess word overseas is getting too slow!"

Yugi looked confusedly at her again. "I'm sorry, Matsu. What are you talking about?"

He received a pout. "Oh dear! You mean you really haven't heard the name Matsu before?"

Yugi laughed nervously. "Um…well, I know it means 'pine'…you're Japanese, then?"

_Oh, come on_. Obviously Yugi Mutou didn't keep much up to date in the dueling world.

Fortunately, to end any more oncoming awkwardness, the old man came back from the storage room. "Miss, I have the cards! You should come take a look at these, I have some pret-ty rare finds!"

"Grandpa just got some interesting cards," Yugi added, "you should add them to your deck. What kind of cards do you have?"

Matsu brushed him off and dove straight for the display. Her eyes scanned it through her glasses, like a librarian. _Is it here…? If it isn't, I'm going to throw myself off the top of the __Tokyo__Tower_ Finally, her eyes rested on a card that stood in the mix of the others. It was a magic card with a picture of a half-silver, half-black moon with the background of a night sky. Her eyes widened through her glasses. She looked up at Grandpa Mutou and pointed at it, her mouth open and speechless.

The man chuckled as if he understood. "Yes, well that card is brand new," he explained. "But you need the other three cards that go with it to use it, and those three are very rare. I'm sorry I don't have them."

Matsu frowned. _Okay, it is so not new. I've been looking for this little fucker for…_ She inwardly sighed and reached into her pocket. "That's fine," she pulled out three cards and held them up. "I got them myself already."

"What?" Yugi and his grandpa stared in shock. "But those are ultra-rare cards!"

"I know," she smirked. In her hand were three cards of the Spellcaster type. The first one was a picture of a cloaked boy, smirking, holding a golden key. His stats were 1600/2000. The next one was a girl figure who also looked like a sorcerer. She had purple hair that was flying all over the place, and she was holding a ball of golden power. Her stats were 1700/2000. The last one was another magician/warlock-looking boy crouching, holding a golden staff similar to the Dark Magician's. His stats were 1800/2000. "I know with these combined under the card, Gekkō no Yugure, the moon illuminates the field and causes every monster not in the Graveyard to be sacrificed for Tribute to summon an ultimate warrior. I _have_ been looking for this card for a _very_ long time. I see you have it, so I'd like to buy it from you. I have the money, so name your price."

Yugi's eyes traveled up to Matsu's face. He saw that her once laid-back posture was now straight as a board and demanding. He gulped, feeling a bit weird. She looked like Kaiba when he had tried to buy his grandfather's last Blue Eyes.

The girl sensed the mood going around the room, so she put on a polite smile and added, "Please."

"I'll take it for, say—"

Matsu cocked an eyebrow. _Oh dear,_ she folded her arms over her chest. _This man will probably put a nice ninety dollars for this one…I **don't** have that type of money right now._

Grandpa Mutou was thinking over and over about how much he should price the card. It was a very rare and valuable card; first edition, too. But the girl before him didn't look like she had a lot of money on her at the moment. He wasn't looking for much, anyway. This girl had to be about Yugi's age. He shrugged. "How about thirty?"

Matsu blinked. "Are you kidding me?"

The old man shrank back a bit. "Is that too much?"

The navy-head shook her head furiously, coming back with a wide grin. She slammed her hands down on the counter. "No, that's excellent! Of course I can afford it!" Happily, she dug around in the pocket of her blouse and pulled out a very slim tin case. She opened in and pulled out some money. "Alrighty," she handed it over, "thirty." Mr. Mutou nodded and took the card out of the plastic sleeve it was in with the other cards and put in a sleeve of its own. He handed it in a small cardboard box to Matsu.

"You're very welcome."

She nodded. "Thanks."

Then he cocked his head at her. "By the way, miss, you don't intend on going out in the rain again, do you? Why don't you stay for dinner? Yugi can show you around afterward if you're new in town."

"Yeah," Yugi encouraged her.

Matsu shook her head. "No, thanks anyway. It's very kind of you, Mr. Mutou." She turned to open the door to the shop when she stopped. "Yugi."

"Yes?" he looked up at her.

"Do you…do you go to Domino High?"

"Yes, I'm going into my second year. Why?

"Well, I _am_ new in town, so I was just wonderin'. It's nice to meet a classmate right before school starts. It was nice meeting you. I hope to duel you someday."

"Sure. You can meet my friends also. They're really nice."

She nodded and opened the door. It was even darker now, signaling night had come. She looked up to the sky. "Look, it stopped raining."

* * *

Matsu walked through the park with her hands stretched lazily behind her head. "Ah, the good feeling of completing my deck." She grinned. "I was waiting for that card! It took me forever to find it, though. The little fugger." Her nose caught a whiff of something, and she looked around until her eyes fell on the item of interest. "Oh, oh! Ice cream!" 

She skipped happily over at first, but then slowed down as a thought popped into her mind. Matsu sighed. "Bleh! I keep forgetting how much I have to word on my Japanese…oh, I hope this isn't too hard. Then again, if I can't order a simple thing like ice cream, Ishizu-sama will laugh at me for sure." She had her head down in a sour puss, counting her money and didn't see herself walking into a tall, slim figure.

"Ack! Gomen-nasai, gomen-nasai!" she repeated, not bothering to look up.

"Maybe you should watch where you're going instead of counting two measly dollars over and over again," the cold voice told her. She slightly tilted her head up and popped open and eye, seeing the (well she could tell it was a guy now) person and saw another boy about twelve years old with him. The two walked by her, but she looked after them. The tall one seemed familiar to her, but she couldn't figure out who it was until she saw the bystanders gasp at the two. She heard a murmur of who it was and smiled, "I finally found ya." The vender leaned over and she turned around and blinked.

"Miss, are you going to buy any ice cream?"


	2. The Beginning of the Stalking

You're Only Deceived Once  
  
SariaSubi: (to the beginning of "In da Club" for your sanity, don't see the music video) No, no, no, no, no, no. No re-views, it's mah birthday. I'm gonna ex-plode like it's mah birthday……You know, I'm gonna stop, it's not like anyone cares. Either that, or in the beginning of fanfiction.net there's this huge sign that says, "DO NOT READ ANY OF SARIASUBI-KUN'S FANFICTION!" or somethin like that. Ah, whatever.  
  
Chapter 2  
  
A young sixteen-year-old awoke from her groggy sleep that Tuesday morning. Now would be the time where most teenagers her age would go to school, but she wasn't like the rest. At sixteen years old, she never had even attended school. She walked past her nightstand, her gum from the day before being knocked into the wastebasket. She limped sleepily over to the mirror and pulled her blue hair up so that only two side locks of blue hair hung at the frame of her face. She put her glasses on and walked to her dresser, throwing on a pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt that read "Aruba." Really, she couldn't remember a time that she had been to Aruba. Or at least a time Ayako Marisoki could remember.  
  
The girl slumped over to her cabinet in the kitchen, pulling out a box of Quaker Oats Cinnamon Squares and mechanically poured into a bowl of cereal and added milk. But her attention was on her awaiting iMAC. She looked at it, its screen already indicating that it had been on all night. She was mostly ashamed with herself that she carelessly left her iMAC on. Again.  
  
Looking to the corner of the screen, her self-designated desktop clock flashed 9:00 AM. Perfect. He should be online now.  
  
At yes he was. She felt proud that she was such a good hacker on the computer that she found out Seto Kaiba's screen name. Not that he ever really used it, she thought. But that would mean that he was at a computer. And near a phone.  
  
She picked up and dialed KaibaCorp.'s phone number. Her phone being connected to the computer, she typed past the several secretarial lines and went straight to Seto Kaiba's phone line.  
  
"Kaiba."  
  
"Mr. Kaiba, are you aware that counterfeit Duel Monster cards are being produced by underground industries on the black market by the day?"  
  
"What do you want?" he snapped coldly. She grinned; just the same as the other night.  
  
"I merely want to sell you a product of mine and then if you like it, you can promote it in KaibaCorp.'s market."  
  
"What's in it for me? Or more so, you? I doubt you would want to sell a product and then get nothing out of it?"  
  
"You're absolutely right, Mr. Kaiba," she grinned, putting her feet on the table her computer held, "I just merely want to sell you a product of mine. You would decide how much profit to give me, since I feel it will be a big help for later on in the near future. You see, I will give on of the counterfeit cards I came across the other day and a real card, both of which you can keep. My product will show you the difference between the two and how you can avoid buying counterfeit cards."  
  
"How will I know you didn't make the 'counterfeit' card yourself? This is a waste of money and my time."  
  
She grimaced. "Mr. Kaiba, how can myself, a sixteen-year old girl, make counterfeit cards?"  
  
"Many people thought I couldn't start running KaibaCorp at fourteen, but I did. This is a waste. I'm hanging up."  
  
"Wait!" she yelled into the phone, praying she wouldn't hear a click of a hang-up.  
  
"What?" he snapped.  
  
"There is another reason for my call." She heard him cuss under his breath, but continued, surprised he still had the receiver I his hands. "I challenge you to a duel. The name's Matsu." There was a long pause, a pause too long for comfort. "M-Mr.Kaiba?"  
  
"No," came the short refusal from the other line.  
  
"What?! Mr. Kaiba! You-you can't…..you can't refuse!" All she received was the beep of a real hang up.  
  
This time she was mad. The reason she hadn't attended high school until she was sixteen was because she was training her deck to defeat Kaiba. She bunched her hands into fists and threw a nearby book at the wall with little intentional aim, hitting a picture frame and knocking it down.  
  
Matsu knew that her only option was to attend Domino High tomorrow. After picking her frame up and resetting it on the wall, she turned off the morning news and walked to her Jeep, her sights set on picking up the school uniform she ordered.   
  
REVIEW. REVIEWING HELPS ME RIGHT MORE! 


	3. Matsu

You're Only Deceived Once  
  
By SariaSubi-kun  
  
SariaSubi: Okay, I don't own this anime...believe me, I did NOT create Yu-Gi-Oh  
  
"Hey Yugi, what's up? You seem a little distant today."  
  
"It's nothing, Tristan," he sighed with his head in his hands, yawning slightly. "I just stayed up late last night. There's another thing that's been perturbing me."  
  
"What is it, Yug?" Joey asked, a bit concerned.  
  
"It's nothing, really. It's just, the other day, this girl came to my Grandpa's game shop. She seemed nice, and she said she might come to this school, but she's not here. I'm just wondering. It's the third day of school, and I haven't seen her."  
  
"What does she look like, Yugi?"  
  
"All I know is she is tall and has blue hair and glasses."  
  
"No name?" Tristan questioned, seeming a bit suspicious.  
  
"She never told me, but there's something more. When she came to the game shop, my grandpa told her that he had a new shipment of cards, one of them being extremely rare. So rare that there is only one of them." He watched his friends blink in surprise. "Yeah, I know. Anyway, he apologized to her because he didn't have the other three cards that were essential to the card's combination. So, out of nowhere, she pulls out the three cards, which are rarer than the magic card my grandpa had! She said she had been all over the globe to get them, but when I told grandpa that, he said that he would have known if they were someplace else on the market in another country "  
  
It shocked all of them. "Wow," Tea blinked, "that doesn't happen everyday. Quite a coincidence, I should say."  
  
"Really, too much of a coincidence, I think," Yugi spoke again. "Her emotions kept on changing. One minute, she was as happy as you, Tea, the next, she was as serious as Kaiba." All of them shuddered. None of them wanted to think about that sleez, Kaiba.   
  
Though it seemed, someone else had different thoughts.  
  
//-//-//-//-//-//-//-//  
  
"Gah! He refused! That jerk!" She threw her arms up in the air as she walked down the sidewalk in Domino City. "And to top it off, I'm lost. Man, I should have stayed in Nevada. I have no friggin clue where I am, I was REFUSED in a duel, by Seto Kaiba of all people, I have no idea where I am, oh wait, I said that already. Damn this city!" She hated today. The local high school, she deemed, had a gay uniform, and besides, why should she start school now? She was sixteen, and she had never attended school in her whole life. Not that she needed it, though. All she needed to know was how to count the low amount of money she had, how to win a duel and devastate your opponents, how to talk to strangers, and that she must find Krita and set her free...   
  
"And to win at a duel with Seto Kaiba!" she finished her thought aloud, though soon regretted it when she caused a few stares from people walking by. She could hear one lady whisper, 'Shouldn't she be in school?" but it wasn't the worst. She had heard much worse about her before....  
  
She passed numerous areas that she had been to before numerous times, and started to wonder if she would ever figure her way out of this maze of alleys. Thugs waited for her in every alley, but none of them talked to her until now.  
  
"Hey babe, lookin' hot today," one of them smirked, looking her up and down.  
  
"You talking to me, or your friend over there?"  
  
"Oh," the other one stepped forward, "that hurt. Listen babe, we need you to help us with something."  
  
"Really?" she cocked one eyebrow, "well, first, you can stop calling me 'babe' and I just might listen."  
  
"Okay, listen up," the first one stepped up as well, no longer kidding around, "we need you to set up a diversion."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Go into Kaiba Corporation and make Kaiba come down. Even the kid is good enough. We'll do the rest."  
  
"Interesting. Now tell me why I should do this for you." She set her eyes on the tall building ahead of her and smirked. "Why don't you just challenge him to a duel? He'll refuse, of course, but you'll be able to get close enough to him to do whatever you want."  
  
"Oh, really?" their suspicions rose. "How did you come up with this idea?"  
  
"Because as soon as you are done with him, I'll challenge him to a duel. That's what I was going to do in the first place before you two showed up. Now, you have ten seconds to get out of my way before you regret standing still. One."  
  
They didn't move; just looked strangely at her.  
  
"Two," she stepped towards them with a menacing look. "Three," she raised her arm and positioned herself to launch an attack. "Four. And oh, by the way, tell him that Matsu wants him. Five." Stepping forward again, she scared them off and watched them run towards Kaiba Corporation as she laughed at them.  
  
Her plan worked! Turing her heel in the other direction, she headed for the Domino Museum.  
  
//-//-//-//-//-//-//-//  
  
"Mr. Kaiba, there are two gentlemen who want to make an appointment with you. They say it's urgent." Kaiba looked up from his laptop and down at the speaker placed on his desk. He should have never gotten it; people were always bothering him.  
  
He grunted. "Well, since it seems I have nothing better to do, send them up. What do they want?"  
  
"They're coming up right as we speak, sir."  
  
"All right," he grunted again, thoroughly annoyed. Sure enough, two gangsters came into his office, panting and gasping for breath.  
  
"Ah...Seto....Kaiba," the first one with spike blue hair breathed. "We...came...to..."  
  
"What is it?" he stood up, slamming his hands on the table. "You already lost more than half my interest by coming up here and bothering me. Now what do you want?" His voice was cold.  
  
But all words left the two thugs. They forgot what they wanted. What should they do, come into his office and say, "Hey Kaiba, I want to pound your face in"? It didn't make sense anymore, but not that sense had inhabited them in the first place. Some force in the back of their minds was controlling them to forget about their earlier thoughts...  
  
"Uh, Mista Kaiba, sir, uh," the second one with shoulder-length cherry-red hair rubbed the back of his head, "we uh, kinda forgot what we wanted to tell ya. But...we ran into this girl. Eh...she said that she was coming here, but sent us up when we ran into her. She said, 'Tell Seto Kaiba that Matsu wants him.'"  
  
"Oh, great," he grumbled as he slumped down into his chair again. Realizing that the thugs were still in his office, he glared up at them. "You can leave now," he spat coldly, causing them to run out of the room in fright.  
  
Imbeciles, he thought, for tough gangsters, they can be scared too easily.  
  
  
  
//-//-//-//-//-//-//-//  
  
"Ishizu-sama, I am here. I brought another deck." The cold green eyes looked up the stairs to the beautiful Egyptian woman standing at the top of the flight.  
  
"Oh, Matsu, you spent your uncle's money again. You never have any money to support yourself, yet you are flinging money from your uncle's account left and right," she came down the flight of stairs to greet her young friend. "So, what else is knew?"  
  
Matsu shook her blue-haired head, the locks at the side of her face moving with her head. "I still can't find her."  
  
"You mean Krita? She must be somewhere." Ishizu put a comforting hand on the younger teen's shoulder.  
  
Matsu gladly accepted. "Thanks. Hey, can I come inside? I'm not having a good day."  
  
"Sure," Ishizu smiled warmly. Once they were inside and seated, Matsu looked around her setting. "I wonder if any of these have her on them."  
  
"I don't think she played a large part in the great chaotic history of Yami's past."  
  
She smiled sheepishly and shook her head. "Neither do I. I guess you're right." Matsu looked towards her mentor and started to think that she would never get that duel with Kaiba. "Ishizu-sama?"  
  
Ishizu smiled. "Just Ishizu, Matsu."  
  
"Yeah, whatever. Anyway, I challenged Seto Kaiba to a duel, via phone, yesterday."  
  
"And?"  
  
"He refused."  
  
"That wasn't nice at all."  
  
"And for Seto Kaiba to refuse a duel!" she spat. "Probably thought it was a waste of your time." She leaned forward on the decorated stone bench they were on, putting her elbows on her knees.  
  
Ishizu's eyebrow popped up. 'You tried to sell him something as well, didn't you?"  
  
Matsu laughed bitterly. "I didn't know that that necklace of yours could also read minds."  
  
//-//-//-//-//-//-//-//  
  
'Matsu. Sixteen years old. Blue hair, green eyes. Resides in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Not much background information is known about the teenager, only that she is the top duelist in the West Coast, received two titles; Female Duel Monsters Champion, Duel Monsters Champion of the Western United States. Currently has traveled east to New York, Domino City. Temporary location in Domino is unknown. All other information has been deleted by file.'  
  
"So, this is who this Matsu is, huh?" Kaiba sat back in his chair, un-amused. "Of course. The female champion wants to challenge the world champion. Makes sense, though it still is a waste of time." However, his thoughts dwelled to his deck. He had been extremely busy and caught up with lost time in work ever since he got back that he forgot about his new enforced deck. Maybe he could try it out. This was the perfect opportunity...  
  
Seto Kaiba, being no idiot, quickly checked his caller ID records. 


	4. Tou's Holiday Inn

You're Only Deceived Once  
  
By SariaSubi-kun  
  
SariaSubi: Hey all! I finally got a review on this story! Yes! Thank you so much, helldragon400! Well, yet another chapter. Now, many a friend (actually just one) asked me why I put the concept of deception in my title. Well, many things can be deceived. Many, many things.....  
  
Don't own, so don't friggin sue me.  
  
Chapter 4  
  
"Yes? Is Tou there? Sure, I'll hold on." Matsu looked the other direction at Ishizu and winked, Ishizu sighing. She held the phone to her ear and spoke up. "Tou! Haha, I knew you still worked here."  
  
"Not for long," the voice came out of the receiver. "I'm getting a new job at a computer sales store next week. This is my last day, really."  
  
"Oh, Tou! Uh, anyway, I wanna give you your special last order. Uh-huh, the usual. An order of steamed dumplings, uh, shrimp teriyaki, and shrimp tempura and Ishizu-sama, what do you want?"  
  
She sighed again. Matsu was hopeless when it came to Japanese food. "Just some pork fried rice, please."  
  
"Ya-huh. Yeah, that's it, and some steamed, too. Sure! I'll have some fried ice cream and some oobanaki for dessert. Thankya, Tou!"  
  
Ishizu slapped her head. "Why did you order all that?"  
  
"Huh? You wanted an egg roll? But that already comes with the meal."  
  
"Oh, Matsu," she groaned, but she soon giggled. For spending so many years with the sixteen-year-old, she could not stay mad at her.  
  
A beeping was soon heard. Matsu looked down at her belt resting on her jeans. In one of the pockets, she pulled out a dark blue, chipped cell phone that looked like the Eiffel Tower collapsed on it and it still survived. The old phone continued to vibrate.   
  
"Oh, it looks like I have a call at home." She used to be so proud of herself that she programmed her phone to vibrate when she received a call at her house on her cell phone. "It says it's from....!" All of a sudden, she gasped and dropped the phone on the tiled floor of the museum.  
  
"Matsu! What happened?" Ishizu rushed to her friend's side, eyes full of worry.  
  
Matsu just smiled through the locks of hair shadowing her eyes. "We have to get to my house so we can get the food, and then, you can watch me prepare the best dueling deck ever!"  
  
//-//-//-//-//-//-//-//  
  
Ishizu picked up her chopsticks and dug into the rice as she watched the young girl look at all the hundreds of cards on the carpeted floor before her as she munched on a dumpling. "I have a card for you," she managed through the rice in her mouth.  
  
"Oh really?" Matsu looked up, breaking her spell of concentration.  
  
"Yes, hold on." Ishizu dug into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a card with a ball of blue energy on a background of green vortex. "It is called Gravity Bind*. It's a trap card. All monsters with a level of four or higher cannot attack for the whole game when it is activated. Every card summoned of that level area will be paralyzed. I believe your opponent has that one weakness."  
  
"Yeah, he did with Pegasus, but he completely reformed his deck. I mean," she dug her chopsticks into the tempura, "I would after that incident."  
  
"Yes, I guess so, Matsu. Then you should make sure that you put together a very good deck. I know if you used that combination with that new card you bought, you will blast Seto Kaiba away."  
  
She held up her fist in confidence. "All right! Yes! My Tsuki Combo will blow Kaiba away!"  
  
//-//-//-//-//-//-//-//  
  
"Fallen angels at my feet/Whispered voices at my ear/Death before my eyes/Lying next to me I fear/She beckons me/Shall I give in?/Upon my end shall I begin/Forsaking all I've fallen for/I rise to meet the end. There is a holiday coming to town, behind it, at least. Just past the rocks." Seto's eyes scanned the text message he received, but had no idea what it meant. Those were lyrics, all right, but what about this holiday? It was early September, there were no holidays. Labor Day, maybe?  
  
"What kind of a clue is that?" he snorted at Matsu's clue where to meet her. He had to trace back to which band created those lyrics. After some research, he found it was a band called Evanescence. "Evanescence," he said aloud. What about them? Evanescence was a dark rock band from Little Rock. 'Just past the rocks......' So it had to do with Little Rock. After he looked into a website, he wondered what it had to do with a holiday. "I just have to wander a little more...." Damn, this girl was good with riddles. The last place he looked on the Little Rock website was the accommodations section. Of course, this was a stupid place to look, but what else was there? He decided to skim the hotels. Ah! There it was! Right in front of his eyes the whole time, was an advertisement for the Holiday Inn.   
  
"So," he leaned back in his chair, "that means she wants me to meet her behind the Holiday Inn next to my office. Makes sense. More convenient for me."  
  
//-//-//-//-//-//-//-//  
  
"Master, I am not sure what we should do with the girl. Her spirit is not at rest, and her body is rotting again."  
  
"Do I have to do everything!" he slammed his hand down on the corner of the table and turned violently and stormed out of the room.  
  
The sight wasn't pretty when the master walked in. And a scream could be heard over the ocean, but no one was there to hear it.   
  
//-//-//-//-//-//-//-//-//  
  
"Hey, sis, how ya doin'?" Joey beamed at his sister, who just bravely came out of her operation.  
  
"I'm fine Joey," she managed to smile, though she was blind with her bandages. "So, how is everything going?"  
  
"Everythin's just fine, Serenity," he sat down on the bed, taking his little sister's hand. "School started three days ago, but I have the whole weekend to see ya!"  
  
"Oh, I hope I don't miss too much of school."  
  
"Ya won't, sis, I told the high school that you were in the hospital. They understand."  
  
"Thank you." Joey was proud of his sister. She had always wanted to be with him, and now, they could finally be together, now that he had come in second place at Duelist Kingdom and paid for her operation.  
  
Dueling. He wanted to do it again. Which brought the abrupt conversation he and everyone else had with Yugi. Who was this mystery girl that Yugi talked about? The fact that she had such rare cards, yet he didn't know her name...so how was he supposed to duel her, huh?  
  
Ah, he just wished another tournament would come around. That way, he could find the tall, blue-head for sure.  
  
//-//-//-//-//-//-//-//  
  
"Are you coming, Seto Kaiba?" she kicked the can into the dumpster. Looking upwards, she could see the looming tower of Kaiba Corporation. Would the CEO come at all?  
  
"Quite a place to meet. It took me a while to figure out your boring riddle, but why here? Why so discreet, Matsu?" He became cold on her name, using it for the first time in person.  
  
"Oh, Seto Kaiba," she shrugged, "I just wanted to make sure that no one saw us introducing our selves and then dueling. It would be embarrassing if they watched you lose."  
  
"Very funny, but I'm not here to play your games, Female Champion." She popped open one eye. "I want this to be over with. I don't want you following me, calling me, doing anything to bother me. I'll duel you sure enough, but let me make this clear: loser stays out of the winner's way, got it?"  
  
She wasn't very pleased. "Fine," she stuck her nose up, "but I have another condition."  
  
He was getting irritated. "What?"  
  
"Winner keeps quiet about the other's defeat, got it?"  
  
Seto grunted. "Fine. And don't think I'll go easy on you because you're the Female champion." He turned around and looked back over his shoulder. "Come on, this way."  
  
Well he had a welcoming tone, she moaned in her head in complaint. He thinks it's a joke going easy on me. He'll be begging me to go easy on him! Just you wait, Seto Kaiba. 


	5. The Ultimate Creature? The Duel Begins

You're Only Deceived Once  
  
By SariaSubi-kun  
  
SariaSubi: Okay, now, in the fourth chapter we saw a * next to Gravity Bind. Well, that's because Gravity Bind is a real card. Heck, I think it's somewhat rare because the card I have of it says "First Edition" and the writing is holographic...must mean something, huh? Ah, well, it's an awesome card, so if you have money, go out and buy it! And by the way, I got another review! Thank you so much Sorceress Vanessa!  
  
Anyway, I feel you all know I only own the story, yet not the anime. Should I get an authorization to write a fanfic and the public know that I did not create Yu-Gi-Oh?!   
  
Uh, PS-I really just got started on actually knowing the cards of the game, so I made up a bunch of cards on Matsu's and a little on Seto's side. And there are some real cards in there, but if I did not comply completely to their rules, don't get mad. For Seto, I found various cards on websites that says he uses.  
  
Chapter 5  
  
Ishizu looked at the hieroglyphics on the walls of her museum. When should she open the museum? She had to tell Yami and Seto about their ancients paths, though she wished she could find a young priestess among the carvings....  
  
She shook her head. Ishizu hoped Matsu would win her duel. Not because it was against Seto Kaiba, but because it would be a complete embarrassment to her ego that she was finally starting to build if she lost.  
  
If.  
  
//-//-//-//-//-//-//-//  
  
Matsu followed the tall figure down the hallways, wondering how he knew them so well. Was he taking them to a private arena? Ooh yes!, she wanted to clap her hands together, finally, after training my deck for all those years and missing school purposely to do it!  
  
Finally opening a door, Seto and Matsu looked upon a large dueling arena. "Amazing," she awed, "this is the largest one I've ever seen." Stupid! she thought, this was Kaiba Corporation, they put these things out in the US!  
  
"Are you ready yet?" he growled, already on his dock.  
  
"Sure, sure!" As soon as she got on her deck, she looked proudly up. "Seto Kaiba, you are going to see a duelist with cards you never knew existed!"  
  
"Really?" he smirked, "the person I last defeated said the same thing. I must be getting déjà vu."  
  
She growled. "Okay, Seto Kaiba! It's time to duel!"  
  
//-//-//-//-//-//-//-//  
  
"My turn first!" She scanned her hand. What? One of the Tsuki warriors already on the first hand? Amazing. If I just put these cards down for later...  
  
"Okay! I put Overdrive, in attack mode!" She slapped the card down and on the playing field arose an armored vehicle with a machine gun, 1600/1500. "And I put this card, face down, ending my turn."  
  
Seto looked at his hand. Battle Ox, good monster. His mighty ox would crush this foolish girl.  
  
"Battle Ox," he placed the card down, "in attack mode!"  
  
Matsu smirked. "Ya sure you really want to attack me, Seto?"  
  
What? She called him by his first name? No one ever did that except his brother and those sniveling former employees who tried to sweet-talk their way out of their alliance with Pegasus. "Don't try to play games with me Matsu. I'm not falling for your girlish innocence act."  
  
"Oh my, I'm offended!"  
  
"Shut up and let's get on with the duel." She crossed her arms and smirked. "As you wish."  
  
"Battle Ox, attack her piece of scrap metal, now!" But as the mighty minoutaur charged forward, Matsu flipped up a card.  
  
"My, my, you don't take into precautions do you?" she looked down plainly. "Meet 7 Completed. It activates when you attack a low rate machine monster and allows me to summon a greater one, adding 700 points to either its defense or attack, so I summon Steel Ogre Grotto #2, attack mode." A bulgy monster emerged from the dueling field, 1900/2200. "And I chose to put the 700 to his attack points." The monster soon glowed as the meter showed his attack strength rising to 2600 points. "Now, it's automatically my turn. So sorry to stop you in your tracks."  
  
Seto started to notice how plain she was making her comments. She was no longer using a mocking tone. Why the sudden attitude change? He shook it off as he awaited the outcome of this turn.  
  
"Now that my Overdrive has been sacrificed in order to summon Steel Ogre Grotto, I can attack. Steel Ogre Grotto, attack now! Devastating Crush!" The bulky monster's fat steel arm lunged towards Seto's Ox, smashing it to pieces, and taking a 900 point bite out of his Life Points.  
  
//-//-//-//-//-//-//-//  
  
Now it was time to get serious. He drew another card. A Blue Eyes already! Extremely lucky. But he couldn't play it just yet. But then again....he had the Flute of Summoning Dragons. Perfect. Now, the question was: should he wait until he had Polymerization or just put all three out? Either way, he'd have three Blue Eyes on the field, and hoping for luck, the next turn could fuse them all!  
  
"I summon the Blue Eyes White Dragon!" The field sparkled as the fierce dragon appeared on the field.  
  
"Ooooh, so that's what the Blue Eyes look like." She sounded bored.  
  
"I'm not done yet." He pulled out another card. "I play Flute of Summoning Dragons!"  
  
Her eyes widened dramatically. "What?!"  
  
"Now I can summon two dragons to the field. I summon the two remaining Blue Eyes!" She stepped back as the gigantic monsters appeared, completely foiling her plans.  
  
He smirked evilly. "Now, Matsu, I thought you were a little more confident than that. Or are you just scared? Didn't think I was this smart at dueling, did you? Well, you should have thought about all this before you mindlessly challenged me."  
  
He was getting her angered. She furrowed her brow. "It's only my third turn. The tides will change, Seto."  
  
It made him grin more to see her angry. His mind instantly rejoiced at the opportunity to insult her. "I'm not so sure. You're lucky that I can't attack with my Blue Eyes yet, but next turn, I fuse them together to make the ultimate being!"  
  
Before he could go on about how great his Ultimate Dragon was, she stopped him. "Yeah, yeah, lord of the dragons is you. But don't think this turn isn't wasted. True, you're Blue Eyes can swipe my Grotto and then attack me directly, but like I said, I'm not done yet." She drew a card and then gave a smirk, but it soon faded as she looked across the field at the CEO. She never gave the guy much thought before. Seriously, his eyes, those dark blue, icy eyes...Gah! She smacked herself mentally. This is a stinking duel, for crying out loud!  
  
'Well, time to turn things around," she sighed as she placed a card down. "First, I play 5 Card Trolley. This allows me to play up to five cards if I please, replacing all of them at the end of the turn by drawing five new ones. So," she looked at her hand as she held the word. "I first play Gravity Bind."  
  
Seto's eyes widened. He had only heard a myth about this card.  
  
Matsu easily read his expression, and her look became one of malice quickly. She would have fun torturing him with her rare cards. "Yes, Seto Kaiba, Gravity Bind. It makes all cards with level four or over on my opponents side of the field paralyzed for the whole game. That means any monster that you summon to the field will be instantly paralyzed. And, looking at the kind of duelist you are, it seems to be a burden now to stack your deck with high leveled monsters, isn't it?" She laughed. "Card one. Meet card two."  
  
She pulled another card out of her hand. "Now, now, Seto, Gravity Bind is only the beginning of the tide. Stand your ground and don't be so sure to brace yourself for the full wave. It will crash down on you soon enough."  
  
Was this poetry corner or a duel? "Just get on with it."  
  
She gave a fake smile. "Gladly. My next card, Tsuki Goddess." On the field, just like the female card she had shown Yugi earlier, appeared on the playing field, dressed in a long black dress with long purple hair, 1700/2000. "And now, my third card! I summon the Tsuki Archer." Just like she said the name, a young boy is a cloak appeared, holding a key. "His special ability is, that, since he is an archer, his key transforms into a quiver and arrows, raising his attack strength 300 points!" The meter spun and showed his attack strength rising, making his stats 1900/2000. "And now, card number four, the Tsuki Soldier. He adds a weapon to any other monster of the Spellcaster type who doesn't have one that adds 300 points as well." The meter spun as Tsuki Goddess's attack rose to 2000. "And to unleash Tsuki Goddess's special ability, now that all the Soldiers of the Moon have been summoned, she can now add a shield around each warrior, making them evasive to all attacks!"  
  
He winced. "Damnit," he hissed.  
  
"But not that ability will be needed, Seto." She watched him look at her strangely, "for meet my fifth card, Golden Moonlight!" Yes, it was the card that she had spent ninety dollars on in Grandpa Motou's game shop. "This card first illuminates the field, making all Spellcaster types' both Attack and Defense rise by 500 points."  
  
Seto cut her off. "That still doesn't make them stronger than three Blue Eyes, even with your Gravity Bind card on the field."  
  
"Patience, patience, Seto."  
  
"I don't have one."  
  
"Well then, let me continue so we can end this. I won't need the power upgrades, as I have said. Golden Moonlight also acts as Polymerization and fuses the three together to make MY ultimate being." The field began to swirl as the light at the top of the field acting as a moon shone on the three warriors, and then shining down, only one warrior remaining.  
  
Seto rubbed his eyes. "There's only one of them left."  
  
Matsu waved her finger. "Nuh-uh, not yet. Look closely." As he did, he saw that this monster was not any of the three that was there previously. It was a tall figure clad in black armor outlined in gold. She smiled. "Say hello to Fumetsu, or immortal in Japanese, Moonlight Gladiator." The tall monster's stats were near impossible. 5700/600.  
  
"Yes, yes," she crossed her arms, "it combines all their stats, both Attack and Defense. Heh, now, watch the fireworks."  
  
Seto knew that he was doomed, but there was more? How could she still have more to do in that turn when all THAT happened?  
  
Matsu read his expression again. Pulling back a strand of blue hair, she stated, "When I pulled 5 Card Trolley, all that happened in that only accounted for one Magic Card." What?! "And now I play Selket, the Egyptian Goddess in Attack mode, offering up Steel Ogre Grotto #2 as Tribute!" In Steel Ogre's place arose a slim Egyptian woman, 1300/2800. They were extremely strange statistics, but there had to be a reason why it was in Attack mode. "Because now I use Polymerization to fuse Fumetsu Moonlight Gladiator and Selket together."  
  
Seto was confused. "I thought you said this was your ultimate being. Why are you fusing it again?"  
  
"To answer that, I'll remind you that I said that I would unleash my ultimate being. Fumetsu isn't my ultimate being." That only meant one thing.  
  
Matsu didn't intend to defeat Seto quickly. She wanted to torture him. 


	6. The End of the Duel: A True Victor and R

You're Only Deceived Once  
  
By SariaSubi-kun  
  
SariaSubi: Sorceress Vanessa, you are my new best friend! ^_^ My one true fan to this story! Anyways, sorry it took a while to put chapter five up. I had it saved, but I went out of my Yu-Gi-Oh mood and just….left it. Oh well, keep the reviews coming!  
  
Chapter 6  
  
"Because now I use Polymerization to fuse Fumetsu Moonlight Gladiator and Selket together!"  
  
Seto was confused. "I thought you said this was your ultimate being. Why are you fusing it again?"  
  
"To answer that, I'll remind you that I said that I would unleash my ultimate being. Fumetsu isn't my ultimate being. Now, Liberator of Holy Past! Emerge from the sands of the past!" As she held up her arm, from the floor emerged a warrior clad in white and gold armor, veiled by a desert cloak. Sand flew about the playing field as Seto watched the meter rise again. From 5700/600, it rose slowly, as if torturing him, to 6050/250.  
  
He blinked. "Wait, why is the defense lowering?"  
  
Matsu shrugged. "Well, fusing Selket doesn't add anything to the monster's attack or defense; it just creates a new monster. Selket is meant to fuse with another Spellcaster monster. When she fuses, some of the defense points are taken away to add to the attack. Of course, in desperate situations, this wouldn't be a good idea, but I don't believe you have a Shield and Sword in your deck, do you?" she raised her eyebrow and smiled. "No….no, that was the second duelist in Duelist Kingdom, Joey Wheeler." He growled at the mention of the blonde's name.  
  
She seemed interested. "Don't like the guy, do you? Really, I've heard and seen him before. Sounds like a 21st century hillbilly."  
  
Seto laughed. "I have to hand it to you, I couldn't insult him better."  
  
She cocked an eyebrow as she folded her arms. "I better get back to defeating you. I'm hungry….it's almost lunch time," she smiled as she checked her watch. Seto frowned. How could a girl be so stupid and yet seal the fate of this duel both at the same time? But she held out her palm, motioning to him. "Seto Kaiba, I believe it's your turn."  
  
He grimaced. Now that she had an extremely strong monster on the field, even his Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon couldn't defeat it. He shook his head. He might as well summon it and put it into defense mode.  
  
"Polymerization," he muttered as he put down the card, "fuse the three Blue Eyes White Dragons." The card did as it was told, and sure enough, there stood the three headed Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon.  
  
Matsu felt kind of sorry for him. She never felt that way for her opponent before, but she figured it must suck to know you're going to lose within five turns into the game. Seto put the monster into Defense Mode. Oh man, she thought. Putting a creature like that into defense mode? That's sad. That's……  
  
Her eyes perked up in happiness. That's it! Defense mode!  
  
To end his turn, Seto quietly slipped two cards face down. It was Matsu's turn now  
  
"Now, I put Liberator of Holy Past in defense mode." She smiled as she switched the card's position. "And I place this card down, then summon Yamato Dragon, attack mode!" The fire dragon with many heads, 2600/3100, rose from the field and roared at the Ultimate dragon in defense position. Of course, it wasn't enough to defeat it at first, but then another nightmare came to Matsu's hand. "And I play another Five Card Trolley!"  
  
Seto groaned. "Another one?"  
  
She blew a strand of hair out of her face. "Jeez, Kaiba, it's not like I'm going to beat the living shit out of you. I'm just playing two cards this time. The first one is Axe of Despair, raising my monster's attack 1000 points."  
  
"That's still not enough."  
  
"Thus the second card, Black Pendant. Let's add another 900 attack points, eh?" Now Seto saw the perfect opportunity.   
  
"It doesn't matter, because now I activate Dragon Capture Jar!" Matsu stepped back, a bit surprised at what his card was, but then collected herself and laughed. 'What's so funny?"  
  
"I knew it!" she jumped up. "I knew that you'd waste your card on my dragon. Now that my other dragon is out of the picture, I can finally attack and destroy you when your turn is up! Oh, wait, it's still my turn!" she laughed. She gave him an evil smirk. "A Dragon. The perfect decoy monster."  
  
"What do you mean by decoy?"  
  
She shrugged. "I know you have cards that go against dragons in particular, so I figure that in case that card you placed down was one of 'em, you would waste it. Even if it wasn't directed at a dragon type monster, Yamato was still a decoy. I wanted to raise its power so it could still defeat your Ultimate Dragon, which you put into defense mode because of my Liberator, making it weaker and more able to defeat. Of course, why would I put another monster on the field when I already have my ultimate being?" She proceeded to explain after the rhetorical question, "Maybe my Liberator was a decoy. Who knows. Either way, I got you to use one of your face down cards, and now—" She was about to flip her card into position when Seto spoke.  
  
"Too late, Matsu! It's my turn now after I used my card and since you forgot to switch your card into attack mode, I can attack it now! Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon! Attack her Liberator!"  
  
"Yes!" she pretended to cheer him on, "please, by all means, play right into my trap!" She placed her hand on the card she laid down. Looking back up at Seto, she smirked. "This is the card I'm famous for on the West Coast."  
  
He stepped back. "What is it?" he breathed as fires engulfed the Liberator and the dragon, forcing it back to Seto's side of the field. He looked down and watched the dragon's attack and defense points drop by 100.  
  
"Firewall. It's like a wall that protects my monsters from any monster, even if it had 10000 attack points. And any monster that attacks while Firewall is up gets a burn. Each turn, that burn takes away a hundred attack points and defense points from the monster that attacked. But you know what, Seto Kaiba?" she leaned up on her toes.  
  
"What?" he growled.  
  
"You're lucky I didn't torture you further, taking Gravity Bind of the field."  
  
"What?!" he slammed his hands on the stand. "You took it off?"  
  
"Well, I mean, I had to discard a magic card or I would have had over five on the field! I just had to play Firewall. It's, like, essential." Yeah, he thought, she was back to her mocking side. But she sighed tiredly, as if getting bored of toying with him. That's what seemed to make them complete opposites, besides the part that Matsu actually smiled. She got bored toying with her opponents while he loved it. Just devastate him, she had always learned. Toying with them gets boring.  
  
Her sigh signified she was back to plain Matsu, not the mocking Matsu. Man, did this girl have mood swings. He slapped his forehead. Was this a signal of PMS or something?  
  
Whatever he shook his head. It was her turn. The last turn of the duel.  
  
//-//-//-//-//-//-//-//  
  
So it was just over then. The flames subsided and the Liberator of Holy Past lunged forward with Matsu's order. The duel was over. Seto was defeated.  
  
He slammed his fists down until they bruised. "How?! Just how could someone duel like that? It was over far too fast!"  
  
She yawned as she walked down from the arena. "Jeez, ya act like you've never lost before."  
  
"Have you lost before?" he looked up and glared at her.  
  
"No," they were now both off the arena, decks put away and looking across at each other, "but I play with people who lost all the time. Really, losing's what makes you better." She laughed at herself. "I guess that means I'm not that good a duelist. But," she turned the other direction, "you can't learn anything from that duel. I barely did anything. Summoning my Liberator was far too early in the duel." All Seto could do was just glare at her. That little bitch, was all he could think. Bitch, bitch, bitch.  
  
She turned around and noticed the hate that was coming from his eyes and frowned. Don't those beautiful blue eyes ever show compassion? she thought. He's so handsome, yet he wastes it on being hateful. Matsu shook her head. People who are like that shouldn't show their faces. They just disturb the peace.  
  
Matsu was getting annoyed with him to almost the extent that he was with her. "You know," she remarked, "that ugly glare could shoot someone dead, ya know that? Man, I almost see lasers coming out of there. Oh wait, I can't. You're eyes are to friggin dark I'm surprised anything shows up on the screen."  
  
"Are you trying to make a point?" he growled at her. Right now, all he could feel was hate. Was it hate towards the loss, or her? It didn't matter at the moment.  
  
"Well," she stretched out the word, standing up in her tip-toes, rolling her eyes, "I am hungry. I guess that's a point." He nearly fell over. Not only had he seen her act cocky and plain; she now acted like a ditz. She turned around and eyed him. "Um…wanna get a burger or something?"  
  
His eyes widened, but that was only because of the stupidity of the question. She actually thought he would say yes? This girl really was stupid.  
  
"Well, whatever. See ya round, Seto." She turned her heel and waved lazily, turning into one of the basement hallways.  
  
"Do you even know where the exit is?" he asked her.  
  
"No," he heard her call, "but one of your guards will catch me eventually and show me the exit sooner or later."  
  
"Get out of my building, Matsu."  
  
"I'm trying! I'm trying!"  
  
//-//-//-//-//-//-//-//  
  
Bakura's ear twitched as he heard someone coming. Leaving from his place off the alley wall, he unfolded his arms and turned to the person who was coming down the way. It was a tall man in a dark purple cloak with a picture of a millennium eye on the hood.  
  
"Out of my way, boy."  
  
"Tell my why I should," the spirit from the ring took over and challenged the tall man with Egyptian inscriptions on his face.  
  
"If you want to live, it would be wise to let me pass."  
  
"Just who the hell are you, anyways?"  
  
The tall man stopped pushing forward. "My name is Odeon. I have to get to my master, who is the leader of the Rare Hunters."  
  
"What is the name of your master?"  
  
Odeon grunted, thoroughly annoyed, then yelled, "Master Marik, okay kid? Now get the hell out of my way!"  
  
Odeon violently pushed Bakura into the wall and stalked away. When Bakura finally pushed himself up, he folded his arms and smirked. "Just like that day I felt a dark presence when that low-level duelist Bandit Keith was taken over and dueled Yugi. That must be the person who he was talking about. Marik, huh?"  
  
//-//-//-//-//-//-//-//  
  
"Ishizu-sama! I wo-on!" Matsu pranced happily into the museum. By the time she had gotten back to Domino Museum, it was already well past dark. She knew the Egyptian woman was in a press conference earlier that day, but surely it must be over by now?  
  
Must be downstairs looking at the 'glyphs, she thought. As she hopped down the steps, she heard Ishizu's voice describing one of the hieroglyphs that she had. Matsu stopped dead in her tracks. As she listened closely, she heard, "If you don't believe me, Seto Kaiba, I will show you with the power of my Millennium Necklace!"  
  
Matsu gasped. What in hell was Seto Kaiba doing with Ishizu in Ishizu's private showroom?! 


	7. We Only Find What We Don't Like

You're Only Deceived Once

By SariaSubi-kun

SariaSubi: I'm now in a Yu-Gi-Oh mood. Yes, a very good Yu-Gi-Oh mood. Matsu on the rampage! Now I need these reviews from all of you…even on my other fics, okay? Thank you! You readers is what makes me a writer.

Navi: And SariaSubi's money is what gets me here.

SariaSubi: Wait…..I pay you?

Navi: Whoops….sorry Marianshi

SariaSubi: Marianshi? What does she have to do with this?

Navi: Ur….

Zzy: SariaSubi! I have the answer—!

::Zzy is shot by a random bullet::

GG: ::slaps her head:: And she was just going to tell us the answer to 18 across.

SariaSubi: You mean the Osbourne's dog?

GG: ::nods::

SariaSubi: Damnit! And that New York Times has the HARDEST crossword puzzle

::Marianshi cowers in the corner::

Chapter 7

So, she thought, Ishizu-sama must have thought that she might as well reveal to Seto and Yami their pasts. I just don't see Yami-sama. I wonder if maybe she already showed him? Ah, she slapped her head, so confusing. I might as well go home. There's only a few days until my rent is up and I have to move again.

Before Matsu left, she faintly heard. "If you hold this tournament—"

"The rare hunters won't resist the opportunity."

"Yes. I thank you, Seto Kaiba."

She heard him grunt. "Don't think I did this for you. You may believe in all your hocus pocus, but I don't. I'm leaving now."

Matsu didn't know how loud her boots caused a sound or the swish of her jeans, but she tried to run as quietly as she could up the stairs and out of the museum before Seto saw her.

As she ran outside, the Kaiba Corporation driver looked at her strangely. "Yo!" she waved, and ran in the opposite direction of her apartment.

//-//-//-//-//-//-//-//

"First it giveth then taketh away," the note read. Yugi ran his hand through his multi-colored hair as he read the note he had found in his bedroom just a few moments ago. The window had been opened and the curtains were blowing in the wind. As he had walked into his room, he had heard the loud pounding of steps running away, but he didn't reach the window in time to call out to whoever left him that note, because, obviously, no one was there.

"What does it all mean?" he questioned.

Yami appeared beside him. "Maybe it's a sign. I think we should see what's attached to the note."

Yugi blinked. He hadn't noticed the small card attached by tape to the larger letter. "Oh, yeah." He detached it and read it. 

It was a business card to the Domino Museum.

//-//-//-//-//-//-//-//

Matsu kicked the can into the tree. "Damnit!" she screamed, "of all the shit that happens, now this."

It seemed her rent was up on the apartment. And with no current job, no legal residence in New York, and no friends, she had two suitcases, a sling bag, and a wallet with a picture of her boyfriend, Jack Squat.

She sighed, a large sweatdrop forming on the side of her head. "This sucks. I hope Kaiba left the museum because I'm going to make Ishizu-sama my new best friend."

//-//-//-//-//-//-//-//

A strange glow formed in only one area of the room. Out of the darkness, old hands circled themselves around the unique bracelet. It was golden and had a golden chain connecting to a golden ring. It was quite a beauty and would sell for the highest price imaginable. But the old master didn't plan to sell it. Oh no.

He cracked an ugly smile, his yellow chipped teeth bearing a crooked grin. With a throaty laugh, he said, "Oh, my pretty bracelet. You are sooo pretty." The gleam in his eyes wasn't right; like the man was insane. All sanity was beyond him at that point as he continued to worship the piece of gold.

"Pretty bracelet. Do your pretty things. Shine for me, pretty bracelet."

But the things that the pretty bracelet did were not pretty.

//-//-//-//-//-//-//-//

Today was Saturday morning. A morning free of school, little work, and…

Matsu's bad day. She had been walking around with her duffle bag of stuff all night since she lost her apartment. She never remembered how to get her way around Domino, so again, she was lost.

"I hate the world," she muttered, her hair constantly falling in her face.

Not too far away, Yugi stretched his arms out over his head.

"Ya not get enough sleep, Yug'?" Joey looked down at his friend.

"Yeah, Yugi," Tea leaned over, "you've been yawning all morning."

"Oh, it's nothing," he rubbed his eye, "I was just woken up by something last night, and I didn't go to sleep afterwards until much later."

"Really? What was it?"

"Well, Tristan, it was—hey, it's that girl!" he pointed wildly in Matsu's direction.

"Yeep!" she jumped.

"It's you!" Yugi ran over to her, the others quickly behind him, "You're that girl who came to Grandpa's shop and never showed up for school."

"Eh…" she sweatdropped, her hand behind her head. But that was also the bag holding the duffel bag. The weight became too much and she fell over backwards.

"Hey, you alright?" Tristan leaned over her.

Her eyes were spinning. There were too many heads in her face right now. "Need…room…eh…"

"Oh, sorry." Matsu got up quickly and dusted herself off, but Yugi didn't stop his interrogation. "Why didn't you come to school?"

"More importantly," Joey butted in, "who tha heck are ya?"

_Oh, please. Someone our age using the word 'heck'? Oh well, this is a rinky-dink town named Domino for crying out loud._ "My name is Matsu, okay? Didn't catch that? It's _Matsu__._"

_Man_, Yugi thought, _she doesn't have to be so mean about it. She seemed pretty nice at Grandpa's place._

Matsu noticed the effect of her actions. "Sorry, guys, it's just I haven't slept all night because I got kicked out of my apartment."

"Oh, no. Why?" Tea asked with concern.

Matsu blinked at the sudden action, but shook it off. "I don't have enough money to pay the rent."

"So you're not from around here?" they started walking.

"Nope. I come from Nevada. All my cash is there. I didn't expect to stay in New York for long, but because of family business, I gotta."

"Do you have any family that lives around here?" Yugi spoke up.

"Yeah, kinda. More like a family friend. But I have to find her place. She lives by the Domino Museum, but since I'm new here, I have no idea where that is."

"You kidding me?" Joey's eyes widened, "that place is the easiest building to find in the whole city. It's like not being able to find Kaiba Corporation!"

Matsu shot a glare at him through her emerald eyes, and Joey quickly shut up. She gave him the wow-that's-it-go-rub-it-in-my-face look, but she shook it off. "Can you guys lead me there? I really need some sleep. I promise next time I won't be as cranky." Next time? Did she just say that? Matsu couldn't believe herself. Of all the things she didn't expect to do, besides losing the apartment of course, was make friends, and with these people, of all the yutzes in Domino.

They all smiled warmly. "Of course we will, Matsu." _Jeez_, she thought, _they are so kind I wanna throw a pie at them. But…I like it. No one's ever been this nice to me before. Of course Ishizu-sama has, but this is…different. _Strangely, she found herself feeling the heat coming to her cheeks, and she crossed her eyes shyly. _This is too strange_. 

"So…what are your names again? I've met Yugi, but I—"

"Oh, come on, you don't have to be embarrassed about it," Tea reassured her, "my name's Tea. Tea Gardener."

"And I'm Joey," Joey put his hands on his hips and pushed his chest out like Superman, "Joey Wheela's the name."

"More like Joey Weirder," Tristan mumbled. Then he turned to Matsu and smiled. "I'm Tristan."

"Hey, you makin' fun'a me, clown face?" Joey yelled at Tristan.

"I'm not the one who looks funny. And speaks funny too." Joey grabbed Tristan's shirt and growled. It was all comically of course. The two would never get into a real dangerous fight like that.

Matsu couldn't help it. She tried to hide it, but little by little, giggles came out. Tristan and Joey stopped fighting and looked at her. She removed her hand from her face and started openly laughing, she couldn't contain herself. Tea joined her soon, and Yugi just smiled.

After that, they walked her a few blocks to the museum. Matsu looked up and blinked. 

"Well," Yugi told her, "this is it."

Matsu blinked dumbly. Then her eyes widened and they threw her arms out and waved them around. "Of course this is it! I was just here yesterday!" Everyone fell down. She sweatdropped and rubbed the back of her head. "Eheheh….musta slipped my mind there, eh?" 

Yugi and the others stood up. He gave her one of his big friendship smiles. "Well, we're happy to have helped you Matsu. We'll see you around."

"Yeah, sure Yug—" Her eyes widened and she stopped dead. Her heart missed five beats as her emerald eyes traveled down Yugi's shirt and saw something that she hated herself for never noticing before.

_Oh dear Selket_, the shivers consumed her as she started to shake, _he is…Yugi is…he has…_

_ The Millennium Puzzle!_

"Ph….phar…pharo…." she quivered. Matsu shook so much, she could barely finish the sentence. _Crap. Does she…does Ishizu-sama know about this?!_

Yugi and the others were worried about her. They had all rights to be. Matsu had just stopped dead like a mummy had licked her or something. But at that point, all thoughts of them to her stopped. Not caring how freaked out they were about her behavior, Matsu wrenched away from them and darted up the Domino Museum stairs.

And never answered no matter how many times they called her name.

//-//-//-//-//-//-//-//

The burst through the door was like a thunderclap; the piece of wood nearly fell off its hinges.

"Matsu!" Ishizu looked up from her desk with urgent firmness, "please calm down."

"Yugi is the god-forsaken pharaoh for crying out loud. No! Let's all sit down on pillows and play Ceega* over this!"

Ishizu held her forehead in her hands and sighed solemnly. "Matsu, please. You have to calm down. Just take a deep breath for a minute, please?" Matsu's fiery eyes were still locked on Ishizu, but she did what the woman asked of her, and she slowed her breathing. 

A drop of perspiration fell down the side of her cheek. She _had_ been running too hard and barely breathed. _Good idea. Thanks Ishizu-sama._ Matsu shook her head. "Still. Did you know about this or not? Please answer me."

"My necklace tells me he will come here. I've advertised my exhibit left and right. Yami should come."

"Yeah," Matsu walked over to Ishizu's desk and sat in one of the leather chairs, lounging back and putting her feet up on the corner of the desk. The woman didn't seem to notice. "Yugi was on the surface today."

"So you met again."

"And his 'let's all sit and talk about friendship!' dorks of friends."

"Matsu!"

"It's true. Not that I have anything really against them," she yawned, "but that stuff puts me to sleep. See? I'm falling out just thinking about it."

Ishizu hummed a "umm-hmm" and continued shuffling papers. Matsu poked open one eye and her gaze followed the stacks of papers that she was shuffling. "Ya looking for something or what?"

"Just nerves. You know how I start to sort things when I'm nervous."

Matsu let out a short laugh. "You nervous? About what?"

"I know you were here last night." Both of Matsu's eyes opened as she leaned forward and sat upright. "Huh?" she whispered softly.

"I heard your footsteps when Seto Kaiba was here, but I kept on talking so _he_ wouldn't hear. I know you had just defeated him, so I had the feeling he would be upset if he saw you, especially if he knew you were associated with me."

"Not the friendly guy, is he?"

"I noticed, yes," she nodded. "He agreed to do the tournament I asked him to do."

"Really?" the young teenager looked forward with interest, her glasses falling down her nose.

"Yes. I have a feeling you should participate in it. You might see Mekhi."

Matsu's eyes lit up. "Mekhi? Really? Amazing!" she jumped up.

Ishizu sighed heavily, and Matsu sat back down. There was more. "But it's invitation only."

"Aw, shit."

"No, no, no," Ishizu looked at her, "I have a feeling he will invite you."

"Really?" Matsu leaned back in the chair again, "what makes ya think?"

"Because," she stated simply, "do you think Seto Kaiba would let you defeat him and let you get away with it." A small smirk danced its way on both their faces. "Especially since he has Obelisk now."

The smile faded. Matsu shot up and pounded her hands on the desk. "_What_?! You gave it to _him?!_"

"Matsu, please, calm down."

"Don't 'calm down' me! I wanted that card!"

"With all the cards you have Matsu," Ishizu stood up and yelled herself, "you could probably defeat Marik! So stop it with your foolish selfishness and be quiet!" Matsu stepped back, speechless. Ishizu had never yelled at her before.

The woman's eyes widened. She cast them down. "I'm sorry," Ishizu apologized softly, "but I have a feeling I must give it to him. It was—"

"Fate?" Matsu cocked an eyebrow. She shook her head and smiled lightly. "Listen, Ishizu-sama, I'm sorry, okay? I mean it. You're the one with the Millennium Necklace, not me."

Ishizu returned the smile. She giggled a little. "You know Matsu, that's a different look for you."

Matsu crossed her eyes dumbly. "Huh?"

"The way you have your hair. It's always either up with your glasses or down without them," she pointed. "Now it's down _with_ the glasses. Were you like that all day?"

The navy-head objected. "Nope. I guess my hair tie fell out when I burst through the door." She craned her body and raised her eyebrows. "Yep. I even see it." Matsu stood up and reached down, retrieving it. She was about to put it in when Ishizu spoke up. "Why are you putting it back it. This looks nice."

"Maybe at home, which by the way is your house now," Matsu told her. Ishizu slapped her head and groaned, but then laughed.

"I knew this would happen."

"Yeah, ha ha, real funny," Matsu crossed her arms and mumbled.

//-//-//-//-//-//-//-//

Night had soon come. After a long day at work, Seto was tired. No one was in the mansion lingering except for him. Mokuba was in bed and his servants all went home for the night. It was only him now.

He still wore his green shirt and pants and navy blue jacket, but this would probably be the last time he wore it. He was starting to like it less and less; Seto liked his new outfit better now. Besides, this one reminded him too much of Duelist Kingdom, and that was a thing of the past.

Seto slipped off his jacket, which seemed like a foreign gesture; he always was so covered and closed around people, by the way he dressed and the way he acted. He looked tiredly out the window, his fingers undoing the buttons on his shirt.

His blue eyes, like always, were cold and like glass. They were like that so much they reflected the whole scene out the window; the moon, the stars, everything. He didn't care about them all; they were just astronomical figures, nothing of real importance. Not to _him_ anyways.

When his whole shirt was unbuttoned, he realized his bedroom door was still open. Stupid of him. He didn't want anyone seeing him. Especially with his shirt open.

On his way back to his bed, he caught himself looking in the mirror. Seto never really cared for the way he looked; it was always brown hair, blue eyes, mean look, and ta-da. But he stared at himself in the mirror. And for a split second, he wondered what people thought when they saw him.

Seto shook his head. _This is stupid. I'm not going to get any sleep_. He slid under the covers and closed his eyes, resting his hand on his chest. A small exhalation escaped his lips, and he fell asleep.

He opened his eyes. The window was open and the curtains were blowing furiously from the wind. _Damn window_, he thought, and he went up to shut it.

But there was a noise. He turned around, but no one was there. Seto got up from bed and looked around his room, but the door was closed.

"Who's there?" he growled, angered that someone would disturb him. They would get fired the next morning.

But the tip-toeing of feet scratched the surface of the carpet. A hand slid across the small table in front of his mirror. Seto veered around to see his intruder.

She was only a shadow, yet she seemed so familiar.

"Who are you?" he roared at the shadow.

Through her mask of darkness, a white grin etched its way on the stranger's face. She laughed softly.

She _was_ familiar! He stood behind her. "Matsu?"

The girl laughed again. He could clearly see the outline of her body, the way her hair was done, everything. But there was no color to her; just gray. And he couldn't see her eyes.

"Are you so sure?" she taunted, singing the words like her favorite song.

"Get out!" He threw his arm out to punch her, but it went right through her head. Seto's fist smashed into the mirror, the pieces shattering everywhere, his fist bleeding badly. He grunted in pain, but even more in dissatisfaction. Matsu the Shadow was gone. The cold laugh rang in his ears again from behind him and—

He shot out of bed, sweat soaking his body badly, his pants and covers sticking to him. Seto breathed heavily, his chest heaving.

He put his head in his hands and groaned. "It was all a dream! Damnit!"

No, he raised his cold eyes, damn _her._

*Ceega: and Egyptian form of checkers. To see a picture and possibly buy it, copy and paste 


	8. The Really Bad Formatted, but IMPORTANT

You're Only Deceived Once

By SariaSubi-kun

Author Note

SariaSubi: Sorceress Vanessa, you know I can't thank you enough for staying loyal to my story and trying to get other people to read my story. It all means so much to me.

I hope you guys are starting to like this story. Um…I need to know something. I MIGHT add some romance into this. But I need to know who you would like to have in it. There are going to be more characters to pair up in the next few chapters (and maybe even the next one), but for now, tell me what you think some good pairing ideas would be. Should Matsu be paired off?

Some choices of people are:

Malik (I'm not going to call him Marik anymore. One reason is that when a lot of people think of Marik, they think of the mando evil spiky hair dude with the horrible dub voice. Besides, Malik sounds and looks cooler!

Ishizu

Seto

Matsu

Krita (Okay, the next chapter, which will be up really soon, _should_ reveal more about her since you probably know zip about who the hell Krita is. I'm just putting her up to make up space for now. I think I already know if and when I _do _ pair her off who she'll be with, but I still need your input)

Yami

Bakura

Evil Bakura (I get the whole, "She/He changed me, I love them," thing, but really? I mean, I love Evil Bakura more than ANYONE, but in a pairing? I'm just putting him up here 'cuz I loooove him! ^^)

And these are extras, because I'm not big fans of them. But if you want them in a pair, if you want a pair at all, tell me!

Tea

     Joey

      Tristan

       Yugi

­

     Ryuuji/Duke (He is so cool! Um…should I put him as Ryuuji, cuz I think that's his Japanese name, or Duke? I know some people put Otogi, if that's him or not, but I don't like that one)

Serenity (Okay, one thing here, for all you Seto + Serenity fans, NO! I don't like that pairing. Do they even _talk_ during the series?

Mai

Odeon (Odeon is cool, man!)

Shadi (Okay, am I the only one who thinks Shadi is the coolest guy in the series?)

Well, if I forgot anyone (heavens, no, I am NOT putting Pegasus on the list), tell me, but VOTE! Like I said, I _know_ you guys no nothing about Krita, only that Matsu has mention her, like, twice, but use your imagination. Big giveaway: she's Egyptian. (Who didn't see _that one _coming, eh?)

Okay, one thing for _my_ opinion. I think Shadi and Ishizu would make THE COOLEST couple. Anyone watch that episode (I know they aired it in America, or I wouldn't have been able to see it) where Shadi comes on the Battle City blimp (a blimp? COME ON SETO!) and talks with Ishizu? They would make an awesome couple in my eyes.

Okay so here is what you need to do: email me (mah email's on mah profile) or send a review telling me:

the couples you'd like to see 

if you want romance AT ALL 

If it's Ryuuji or Duke you want

Um…if I forgot anyone

What you think of the whole Ishizu and Shadi thing

WHO MATSU SHOULD BE WITH!

(optional) If you think Shadi is cool.

Shadi is the man!

So, let them COOOOOOOME!

Also, I've previewed this chapter on ffn.net a couple of times, and I know the formatting sucks, I'm sorry. Please bear with me on the error.


	9. Shadi's Visit and the Three Matsus

You're Only Deceived Once

By SariaSubi-kun

SariaSubi: Whoo! Got another reader! Go me! Well, um, Evil StormSister, what does (sic) mean? Um…yeah. Anyways, this is now a romance and action/adventure fic! Whoo! Um…lets see…Tea and Yugi? Not Yami? Ah whatever, I'll think about it. Um…I've decided to do something about the whole major couple (which the reviewers voted on, and they know of it, so I will not reveal it here!) of this story…but there is a surprise! Yes, I have been congratulated on suspense, and I'll do it here, too! Muahaha!

Chapter 8

            The next day, Tea and Yami were at the Museum. Ishizu explained to Yami his past, and he was just overwhelmed.

            Matsu was too. Although Yami didn't see her, she _was_ there, hiding in the shadows. _Say something about Krita! Please!_ She begged her friend in her mind, but Ishizu said nothing. _I can never get her to say ANYTHING about Krita. It's always, "You must find out yourself. You are destined to." Destined my ass_.

            But nothing really came to her complete satisfaction. All of it was interesting, but nothing important.

            _If I am EVER going to find Krita, I gotta find out SOMETHING about her!_

//-//-//-//-//-//-//-//  
            

            Pretty bracelet.

            Those words were such lies.

            Yugi wandered down the empty alleyway, taking a shortcut home. Everything Ishizu said to Yami was every puzzling, but he knew what he had to do: stop history from repeating itself and enter this new tournament that Kaiba was holding. 

            He sighed. Yugi told his thoughts aloud to the atmosphere, "I guess yet again Yami and I must save the world from another dark evil." There was no one in the alley, so it never intimidated him. No thugs to hurt him; he was beyond the bullying stage. For some reason, the whole bullying issue reminded him of Bakura. He knew for the longest time that Bakura was the target for bullying in his old school. That's why Yugi's group of friends became friends with the silver-haired boy. But Bakura was always alone, looking off into space. And you could barely tell that the evil spirit of the ring was in control of his mind. Sometimes Bakura's hair spiked up a bit or the most distinguishing feature was that horrid smirk the spirit gave off. Still, it was depressing how Bakura, who was really kind, was still being bullied and used.

            Yugi was so deep in thought, he barely noticed that the back door to one of the stores on the street that opened up into the alley had opened. He was jarred out of his thoughts and looked up. There, he saw a purple cloaked man, holding something in his arms, it seemed, running out of the store. He obviously didn't look like he worked at Mom's Laundry.

            _Purple robe!_ Yugi realized, his eyes widening. _It's just like that robe that Bandit Keith was in when that strange evil spirit forced him against his will to steal my puzzle and duel me! That might be one of those…what were they called? Rare hunters!_

            "Hey!" Yugi called after him. The man turned around, his arms hugging closer whatever he was carrying. He had a wild look about him, his jostled gray hair everywhere, his wrinkles badly decorating his countenance. His teeth were yellow, crooked, and cracked. His eyes were bloodshot and yellow, and the same wild look of desperation was in them. He mumbled a sound of surprise, then turned and ran.

            "Come back!" Yugi ran after him, waving his arm. The old man began to run with unbelievable speed, but somehow he slowed down. The crazy mind he had within him didn't understand. A force in the back of his mind was deliberately making him slow down.

            _Oh no, _ he thought, _Master Malik will be furious if I can't get this to him!_ He looked back at Yugi and tried to run faster, but he only became slower. Again, he looked back at Yugi, but it took longer for his head to turn, and it even hurt. Yugi was yelling, but no voice was coming out of his mouth. It was like the boy was mute…or the man was deaf. Deaf and slow. And soon mute. His eyes widened, the wrinkles stretching from the wide expression of shock. _Oh no. My pretty…_

Before Yugi even knew it, for as everything happened quite fast, the man stopped running, and, like a huge gust of wind was blowing against him, his body was thrown backwards, hitting Yugi until its momentum slowed. Yugi, with the man on him, crashed into some garbage cans with a flash of pain panging into his back. He gasped; the man's impact into him knocked the air out of Yugi. He clutched his chest, and after a few short breaths, everything with him was normal again.

            But nothing was normal with this man. Yugi could barely look at him; his eyes were rolled back into his head, and his ugly mouth was open, yet not breathing. It was obvious he was dead. Yugi peered over him and looked into his arms, which were still hugged to his death. Just barely, he could see a glint of gold, it was probably jewelry. Yugi very gingerly pried the man's arms off the piece to take a good look at it. _Man, he still held onto this even into his death…_ But the depressing thoughts were replace.

            And the shock that did replace it overwhelmed him more than Ishizu's speech, or just as much to be fair. _It's….it's a…Millennium Item!_

"But how can this be?" he exclaimed out loud, "I swear there are only seven. I mean, I know the other seven's names I don't know, but I also _know_ this isn't one of them. Yami, it just _isn't!_"

Yami again appeared beside his young partner. "I don't recognize this one. Even though Ishizu said in my past life I sealed away the evil in the Items, and still don't remember that, you're right; this _isn't_ one of the items." Yami closed his eyes in thought, then opened them with shock. "This item is pure evil! It's been possessing people's minds to do the will of some other individual, though I cannot think of whom…" He held his chin and thought long and hard, and Yugi tried to think of someone as well, but he didn't know anyone evil except…

            "Yami!" Yugi called out, "could the will be of that evil spirit we sensed when it forced Bandit Keith to take my puzzle?"

            All the pharaoh could do was stare in utter disbelief at the item before him. _What in the world could this all possibly mean?_

            The answer never came, though. Instead, a loud shriek bounced off the walls of the alleyway horribly, stretching for miles, but only Yugi and his spirited Yami could hear it. The bracelet leaped into the air by itself, and the shriek, like that off a phoenix, resounded, shattering Yugi's and Yami's hearing. They had to bend down and cover their ears.

            "Where is she?" it screamed, "_WHERE?!"_ The distraught voice faded, and so did the item, taking to the air and flinging itself far from the two's reach.

            The blinding light faded, and Yami and Yugi could see again. Yugi was just dumbfounded.

            "Yami…what was that?"

            "I…" he shook with disbelief, "I don't know, Yugi…I don't know…"

//-//-//-//-//-//-//-//

            The sands of Egypt were distant, and the warmth was a little fading, but still not cold enough for heavy robes. Still, the wanderer wore them, a golden key on his chest. His brown skin stood out little beneath his covers, but he read a foreigner. He walked with his eyes set on only one destination.

          The evil he sensed had struck his two items all the way in Egypt. He left his post at the tombs to come here and talk with an old friend.

          _The Domino Museum, she said she was at_, he told himself. _Yes, I see it with my eyes. It is not far. _He progressed through the busy streets of Domino and found his way at the steps of the great museum. He walked up, catching glances from visitors on his way by. He didn't mind; it wasn't like he had green skin and claws, but he never had such thoughts anyways.

          The person he was looking for was already waiting in the Egyptian exhibit with a welcoming smile. Ishizu bowed her head. "It is so good to see you, Shadi."

          He nodded. "You as well. I see you've been doing fine." She nodded respectively and he explained himself. "I have been taken from my post at the pharaoh's tomb by a new sense of evil."

          "Evil?" Ishizu blinked. "Surely you cannot mean the Millennium Bracelet."

          His tone didn't change. "We cannot speak here. Is there any place private where we can go?"

          "Well," she held up her hand, "the museum's closing in a few minutes, so why don't I give you a small tour of my exhibit."

          He nodded, barely cracking a smile. "Alright then."

          Ishizu sighed mentally, never letting her old friend seeing her disappointment. _No one knows Shadi as well as my family and I do, but he could at least smile. It's been so long since I've last seen him._ She put a smile on her face and led him down the hallways. Never did his expression change. Maybe every once and a while he asked her a question or two, but when she answered, he responded with nothing but a nod. _If he seems so bored, why did he even come with me? Ah, he is so enigmatic sometimes_. A half-hour passed and the museum closed. Ishizu led her companion out an unknown back door to a pavilion closed off to visitors. It was really a small garden that she and Matsu sometimes found themselves in. It rather calmed her.

          "No one can bother us here." Shadi nodded and sat down on one of the benches. Ishizu sat next to him and smiled.

          "I cannot talk on petty matters for now, Ishizu, I must find out if you know about this evil that is surrounding this area."

          Ishizu's smiled faded, but she was still confused. "I think the Millennium Bracelet has broken free of its captor."

          "How many times Ishizu have I told you there is no Millennium Bracelet."         

          "Shadi, I _know_ you have guarded the items, but there _is _one. Krita created it herself, remember? I know it's not official, but she calls it the Millennium Bracelet, so that is what we have to name it for now."

          Shadi sighed. "It matters not what the name is, you are right on that. But, if this item exists, which I trust you that it does, do you think it contains the powers of a Millennium Item?"

          Ishizu's lowered to the floor. She took a deep breath. "I honestly don't know. All we can think now is that the bracelet has found its way away from that Rare Hunter."

          "And landed into the hands of whom?" Shadi leaned forward, looking straight into Ishizu's eyes. "And I hope you will say Lady Ayako."

          "Shadi, we don't call her Ayako now."

          He blinked in puzzlement. "What do you mean, Ishizu?"

          She leaned forward and whispered something into his ear. His eyes widened a little and he said, "Oh, I see." Ishizu drew back and nodded.

          "So you see? There is nothing to worry about. Matsu is taking care of everything. She's been trying to search for Krita nonstop."

          "Has she been successful?"  
          Ishizu straightened her dress with her hands, folded them, and looked down. "I haven't helped her with it. I knew that if she would be the owner of this Millennium Item, she would have to discover it on her own. Just like Yugi did when he found our pharaoh." She stood up.

          Shadi followed. "Yes," he looked distantly towards the sky as she did, "I hope the memories of our Pharaoh reawaken and can save us from this evil."

          "Yes," Ishizu looked down solemnly, "my brother…"

          Shadi looked at her and his eyes softened. He placed a warm hand on her shoulder. "Please, do not be distraught, Ishizu. King Yami will solve everything."

          "I know," she nodded, blinking back tears, "I just wish Malik would return to the way he used to. He is so headstrong…I wish the kind brother I had would return."

          "Come, Ishizu, he will. We just have to believe in our pharaoh."

          "Yes," she nodded, looking up at him with new strength in her eyes, "we must."

          Shadi smiled. "That is the Ishizu I know."

          Ishizu smiled back and turned to walk back towards her home, which was right behind the museum. She turned back to Shadi. "By the way, Shadi, do you—"

          But he did it again; Shadi's famous I-tell-you-about-the-new-apocalypse-and-then-POOF-I-vanish act. But Ishizu smiled. _He'll be back_.

//-//-//-//-//-//-//-//

            "Crap, crap, crap, crap, and guess what, thin air? Crap damnit!" she whistled to herself, walking through a nearby park. "This absolutely sucks. But you know what?" Matsu asked herself, "Life has sucked anyways. Lemme just find you Krita!" she whined. "Just, like, fall out of the sky or something."

          She was jarred from her daily complaining when she heard a loud shriek fill the sky. The wind howled, and it seemed like Matsu was the only one experiencing this; the whole park was empty. The screeching became louder, and so did the wind's howling. "Man, did someone let a phoenix out or something?" she screamed over the loud noise, covering her ears. A gold blinding light stained her eyes, and she couldn't see at all except for that one light. _Is this the light of Ra or something? No…Malik isn't here. He wouldn't go after me here, would he…?!_

The shriek sounded again, but this time, Matsu took her hands from her ears and stood, looking straight into the light. She blinked with astonishment. "Krita?" she said distantly.

          The light started to fade, and the Millennium Bracelet floated in midair. Matsu gasped in awe at it, and absentmindedly reached forward…

          A spirit formed where her hand was. It took the form of a shadow, a shadow that was a clone of Matsu. It looked exactly like her; her height, the oval shape of her head, the way her hair curved in ruggedly, like small sharp ends, the way she aligned her shoulders, everything. But as Matsu started to look closer, she saw that this girl was obviously not her. She was Egyptian, like Ishizu and Shadi, and had their brown colored skin. Her eyes were a honey brown, and her hair a dark chocolate, much like Joey's eyes. In all, she was an Egyptian form of Matsu.

          She cocked her eyebrow. "Matsu, eh?"

          Matsu blushed a little. "Well, I kinda had to…"       

          The girl nodded. "I understand. Well, _Matsu_, at least I found you. Do you know how much it _sucks_ in that Shadow Realm?"

          "Well," Matsu put her hand on her hip, "for a five thousand year old spirit, you sure talk like your from around here."

          Krita rolled her eyes. "I was handled by thieves and thugs, I had to pick up _some_ vocabulary."

          Matsu's eyes lit up and she clapped her hands together. "But Krita-san! I've finally found you."

          "Not quite," she shook her head seriously, "my body is with that dark maniac."

          Matsu gasped. "You mean Malik?" Krita nodded. 

*Flashback*

          "Master, I am not sure what we should do with the girl. Her spirit is not at rest, and her body is rotting again."  
          "Do I have to do everything! Odeon, I thought _you_ could handle this." He slammed his hand down on the corner of the table and turned violently and stormed out of the room.

          Odeon kneeled. "Forgive me Master Malik." 

          Malik waved it by and motioned for Odeon to get up and follow him. "That priestess had been giving us nothing but trouble. She fades in and out of consciousness and tells us nothing. When she falls unconscious, her body starts to rot. This is what happens when you try to revive a mummy without its spirit.

          The sight wasn't pretty when Malik walked in with his Millennium Rod. And a scream could be heard over the ocean, but no one was there to hear it.   
  


*End Flashback*

//-//-//-//-//-//-//-//

            Joey closed his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep. He thought he might dream about something like his sister coming out of surgery okay, or maybe this tournament that Kaiba was hosting. But no, it wasn't that. And it totally freaked him.

          When he opened his eyes, he was in a dark void, dressed in his regular big white and blue shirt and jeans. He looked around dumbly, thoroughly confused where he was.

          "Hey, I'm in a dream aren't I? Well, somethin' happen already!" he called out to the void, which was swirling different shades of green. His answer came in a cold laugh, obsessing* him, poking at him with a sharp needle. "Hey!" he called out angrily to the laughter. He kind of recognized it, but he wasn't sure; like he only had met the voice a day ago.

          "_Joey Wheeler_," the voice droned, laughing coolly, empty of emotion, only hatred.

          "Show yourself, coward," his hand balled into a fist, his head whipping in different directions, looking for the source of the taunting.

           Soon he was surround by three shadows, all the same. They all stood there, monotonous of feeling. Then, a cool chill ran up his spine as an evil, white smile grew on all their faces, jerking into a devilish smirk. 

          "Hey, who are you?" he whirled around, looking at all of them.

          They were only outlined; gray, dark shadows, but he could see them; one was wearing a white shirt that stopped above the navel, and a long skirt as if she were from ancient times, wearing the ancient attire. _Egypt__?_ He questioned the dress. The figure smirked and laughed. Joey shook his head and looked at the other one. Her clothing was starting to gain color, but her head was still in shadow.

          "Hey, I recognize 'dat outfit!" he pointed at the ghost. It _was_ familiar: from the bottom up, Japanese sandals, loose blue jeans, a white shirt under an open yellow shirt, or blouse (whatever). He gasped. "Matsu!" Her face came into view. Joey barely recognized her; her hair was _down_ this time, curving in like rugged sharp ends of hair. Her mischievous green eyes glinted when she smiled, humming an evil laugh that curled the tiny hairs on his skin. "But 'den, who's de other girl?" he pointed at the third Matsu-figured shadow. Unlike the other two, this one wasn't smiling. Her clothes were much different from Matsu the Shadow: as they slowly inched into view, Joey saw she was wearing black jeans, much like Yami's, and a black backless shirt, the back holding the shirt together by a few straps. On her hand was a golden bracelet with the eye of Horus on it. Linked to it was a thin golded chain, connected to a ring on her middle finger, the ring gold with the eye as well.

          Joey gasped again. "A Millennium Item?" The girl's face came into view, and Joey couldn't believe his eyes.

          She looked nothing like Matsu. Her hair was a dark forest green, so dark it was almost black. And her eyes; they showed only pure darkness and hatred. They were a crimson blood red, and they bore into Joey deeply.

          "M-Matsu?" She frowned darker and raised her arm without the ring, slapping him across the face. Joey fell to the ground, groaning in the stinging pain. As he looked up from the ground, the three spirits surrounded him; Egyptian Matsu, Matsu the Shadow, and Evil Matsu, he called them in his mind. On all three of them, the Millennium Bracelet glowed, and soon the light became too much for his eyes as he screamed……

          Joey forced his eyes open from the nightmare. Drops of sweat slid down his chest, sticking him to the bed. _Was it that horrible_? He asked himself. But yes, it was. He had a _nightmare_ about Matsu. _Man, if I had a dream about a girl, I would at least expect it to be a good dream. But that? What the hell was 'dat? And that Millennium Item…if that was even what it was…_

          "I gotta tell Yugi," he breathed hoarsely, trying to catch his breath.

A/N: the * next to obsessing means this: obsessing over something doesn't always mean to contantly be well…_obsessed _with something. Obsess can mean to haunt or taunt. In this case, that is what it means. Keep on reviewing for your favorite pairings! Thanx! 


	10. The Coming Light of Danger

You're Only Deceived Once

By Saria-Subi-kun

SariaSubi: Hello! Yes, I am _so happy at the response at this story. Two people reading it now! w00t! Maybe I can get three in the next month…_

I am so into a Yu-Gi-Oh mood now that I downloaded the theme song and am playing it right now…I feel like hugging Malik.

And also this: Um…yeah. I really don't know too much in depth about Bakura's history. I know his father is an archaeologist who found his Millennium Ring on one of his digs, and I hear his mother is dead, but I think I'm going to change a little of that. Maybe. 

Chapter 9

            Matsu blinked at the bracelet that she kept on tossing in the air as she walked towards Ishizu's home. _I never really expected the Millennium Bracelet to actually fall from the sky…_ But that wasn't all that confused her. Krita's spirit was here, but her body? Why did Malik have it?

            She shook her head. _Ah, I forget so much about her past. But—_ Matsu stopped her train of thought as the bracelet's eye started to glow. _Another item is nearby?__ No, I know I'm not close to Ishizu-sama's home. Whose could it be?_

            Matsu looked out of the corner of her eye and found a young man standing before her, confronting her. She frowned. He had off-white jeans with a striped polo shirt under and open blue shirt. _He seems familiar to Krita...somehow._

            Though, she was annoyed at his smirk. "Can I help you with something, sir?"

            A golden ring with spikes hanging around its perimeter with the eye of Horus in the center magically appeared through his shirt. _This presence feels familiar. The silver-haired boy smiled wickedly. "Yes, in a way you can help me. Hand over that bracelet and I'll let you walk away alive."_

            Matsu frowned, but then her green eyes grew small as her eyes widened. _Grave robber?!_

            "Who the hell are you?" she whipped around to face him, starting to get on her guard.

            He grinned. "I am a collector of Millennium Items. And you, my dear, hold one."

            Matsu's features softened a little, but only in puzzlement. _This isn't the real person inside that body, is it, Krita-san?_

_            {No, it isn't} the spirit answered, {the boy inside that body is trapped in shadows. He is screaming to be released, I can hear his pleas. Put the bracelet on, Matsu. I have a feeling you remember how to use this item.}_

            _Alright_. Matsu stood straight, _let's__ do this._

            Reaching into her blouse's pocket, she whipped out the bracelet. The eyes of the spirit of the Millennium Ring widened, but the bracelet was not given to him. She snapped it onto her wrist and the small ring onto her finger. She held her arm in position in from of him, and a small flame of red energy started to burn around her.

            Yami Bakura frowned. Through his glare back at her, he let the blue aura of his energy form around him, and both their items glowed. Then, a small grin appeared on his face.

            "Your item is powerful, but I can tell you don't seem sure how to use it. Why don't you give it to me and I'll show you a lesson."

            She grunted. "Buzz off. You probably don't even realize this _isn't_ one of the seven items, so how in hell would _you_ be able to use it? Use it as a keychain?"

            Her voice aggravated him. "I told you, the only way you are going to walk out alive is if you _hand it over to me_."

            Matsu smirked, and she put her hand over the bracelet. "Have you seen what this baby can do? It's already killed someone." Her eyes narrowed and she licked her lips mischievously. "Do you want to be next?"

            Yami Bakura backed up a step, his frown darkening. _Damn her...there seems to be a presence inside the item that is helping her. He needed to find out who it was._

            Matsu was getting irritated at the spirit's presence. "Okay, you freak, get out," the bracelet started to glow, "of that boy's mind!" The spirit held his hand up to guard against the bright light, but her soon let out a cry as he felt himself drawn into it, and soon awoke to the shadows.

            The limp body of the boy fell to the ground. "Hey!" Matsu ran over, the bracelet falling off her wrist. She held his shoulders and propped him up on her lap. She gently shook him. "Hey," she whispered softly, "are you okay?"

            The boy stirred, his silver head shaking back and forth, his eyes shut tight, as if he was escaping a nightmare. _That spirit must be very upset. I must shake him out before he tortures this kid._ Matsu frowned, grabbing his shoulders. "Heeeyyyy!" she shook him, his head tossing back and forth, "Wakey wakey, sunshine!"

            Suddenly, the boy gave a jolt. He shot up out of her grip quite unexpectedly and looked every which way, before he noticed her. His brown eyes widened.

            "Excuse me miss, but who are you? And what happened that," he paused, looking down with the flushed cheeks, "that," he lowered his voice to a mere whisper, "you ended up here?"

            Matsu bit her lip. "Okay kid, I don't know if this may come as a surprise to you, but you have an evil spirit living inside you that just tried to kill me." His eyes widened again. Matsu leaned in closer. "You knew about this?"

            He nodded, his eyes dropping. He slowly edged off of Matsu's lap. "Yes. And I'm extremely sorry about what happened."

            Matsu frowned. She reached for him, and he withdrew immediately, but that didn't stop her. She grasped one of the rungs of the golden item around his neck. She bit her lip and _hmmm_ed. Matsu looked up at him. "I can see this is a Millennium Item. It has to be the ring, right?" She looked down at it again. "Yeah, because even though mine has a ring, it's the bracelet. And this is shaped like it…yep." She stood up and dusted her jeans off, reaching down to lend a hand to him. "Well, I can't say you have the better of the Millennium Items."

            He just nodded, a lost look in his eyes. "Um…can I ask your name?" He tugged at his blue overshirt. 

            Matsu blinked for a moment, but then grinned proudly. "I'm Matsu. I can't say I have a last name. Matsu's all that is and all you need to know."

            The boy nodded. "My name's Bakura. Bakura Ryou. Uh, which Millennium Item did you say you had?" he asked of her.

            Matsu held up her arm. "It's called the Millennium Bracelet. I know, I know it's not one of the main seven, but it's one of them, believe me. It has a ring _and a bracelet, but since there's already a ring, namely yours, it's the Millennium Bracelet."_

            Bakura nodded. "I see."

            "Hey, can we get out of this alley?" she looked out towards the sidewalk, which was bathed in the sunlight she longed to keep her warm. The boy Bakura  nodded and followed her out of the dark alleyway. Matsu looked around for a bench, and she motioned for him to sit down with her.

            "So, Bakura," she looked at him, trying to get a good glimpse at him and his character. She had to admit he was pretty cute. "How in the world did you get that necklace?"

            Bakura lifted his knees to his chin and wrapped his arms around them. He sighed, his eyes looking distant. Matsu frowned disappointedly. "Maybe you don't wanna talk. That's okay." She looked around, and she found something that made her smile show. "Hey, Bakura," she tugged on his sleeve, "wanna get some ice cream?"

            His shy eyes showed "yes."

            The girl was strange. Maybe just a new kind of person to meet. Whatever she was, words couldn't really be found to describe her. He remembered how his heart started racing when he had woken in her lap, her deep green eyes looking with a nameless expression at him. And of all the things, she had a Millennium Item as well.

            Bakura wanted to get to know this Matsu. He really did. But because of her bracelet, he might have to avoid her, just to make she her bright smile wouldn't disappear. When he was spoken to by her, he just couldn't find words to speak with. He wanted to tell her how his father, who was an archaeologist, found the ring at one of his digs in Egypt, but he couldn't form one sentence. His heart had silently lifted when she asked to have ice cream with him. He wanted to spend more time with her.

            Did he really have to avoid her? She _had_ found a way to release him from the control of the dark spirit of the Millennium Ring, so maybe he could be her friend. But visions popped into his head of something different, something new. Something more…

            Matsu grabbed his arm, snapping him out of his daze, and she darted with him across the street. He ran with her. It was just…another nameless description of how her eyes showed so much energy and brilliance. She just seemed like a beautiful person.

            _She is __beautiful, he found himself thinking, but he shook his head violently, trying to make the red leave his face. If he daydreamed about her on the street, he would surely get hit by a car. (Basic logic, right?)_

            The stand was in a park across the street. Matsu seemed to have remembered it from a time before. Before the pair approached the stand, she stopped and dug her hand around in her jeans pocket. "Damnit," she muttered, "it's gotta be in here somewhere. Money, where are you?"

            "Here, I'll pay." Matsu's head shot up, and she looked at the money as if it was a foreign object, and even more as if no one had ever paid for anything for her before. Her green eyes became big and transformed into puppy eyes.

            "Th-Thank you…"

            Bakura smiled nervously, and wriggled his arm out of her hands. "Really, Matsu, it's all right."

            She nodded. "Sorry, it's just that I've been living off a family friend for a while, that I usually force her to pay for stuff or I have to rake up the cash myself. And the worst part is, I keep on getting fired from my jobs."

            They reached the stand and got two chocolate cones. Bakura took a lick and looked at her. "Why?"

            Matsu shrugged. "They just don't let me hate my fellow employees." Bakura looked at her strangely, raising an eyebrow, but Matsu didn't seem to notice it. They walked for a little longer until they were in the middle of the park. Right before they were about to sit down of a nearby bench, two taller guys about two years older than them approached Matsu and Bakura. They seemed so familiar…

            There was a tall one with spiked hair, dyed a dark blue. The other one was a bit shorter with short cherry red hair. They were dressed straight from Hot Topic, clad in black, and neither of them seemed in a pleasant mood.

            Bakura flinched, but Matsu grimaced and stepped forward. "Can we help you gentlemen?" Her always steady approach.

            "Yeah," the redhead balled his hand into a fist, "just stand still and it'll all be over."

            Bakura edged away, but Matsu didn't back down. "Look, we don't want any trouble."

            "Too bad," the taller one sneered, "you already have it coming."

            Matsu folded her arms and grumbled. But something hit her, a strange thought. Her eyes stood blank for a moment, but then they glowed again. They were glazed over with an icy malice, and a malicious grin tugged at her lips. "All right. But mind if I get your names?"

            The shorter punk was getting irritated. "Oh, you know us babe. Remember you made it like you were gonna pummel us in front of Kaiba Corporation? Then you did some shit to our minds that made us scared of Kaiba and we were embarrassed in front of him and thrown out!"

            _That's__ right! she remembered. They were the two thugs that she saw in the alley when she was trying make Seto duel her. But __some shit? What could they be talking about._

            Then she looked down into her yellow overshirt's pocket. _Of course: Krita-san. She probably made them tell Kaiba about me wanting to duel him for me. She still kept her smirk over, and behind her back, she caught a piece of Bakura's shirt. "Stay here," she whispered to him. Nervously, he nodded. Then she looked back that the two before them. "I still didn't get your names. You already know mine's Matsu."_

            The tall one grunted. "I'm Karo, and this is Lens. But you won't really need our names now. You'll be dead before you can say them again!" Right then he positioned himself to lunge at her, but Lens held him back.  

            "Waitaminute," he looked closely at the pair, "that guy…I remember you, you silver haired punk!" he shouted at Bakura, making him flinch. Matsu backed in front of him.

            "What did he ever do? Leave him alone!"

            "He," Lens pointed, "left us beat up in an alley the other day! Now we hafta pummel both of you!"

            _That dark spirit must have been in control when he smashed these two. Matsu looked back at Bakura__. And I hate to say it, but I wish he was in control now. She shoved Bakura back lightly. He looked at her in confusion, but she flashed him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. I'll take care of this."_

            Shoving him back forcefully now, she leapt forward to the two charging minions. Karo lurched forward, throwing his arm down. Matsu spun away, but Lens was already at that side. He lifted his leg to kick her, but she parried it with her hand and used her other hand to grab hold of it. She came in close and used her now free hand to grab his collar. Using her other leg, she swept him and he fell to the ground. While he was down, she turned to face Karo. Both his arms grabbed around her neck, holding it tightly.

            His large hands were laced tightly around her slim neck, and he lifted her into the air, leaving her legs hovering inches above the sidewalk. _Let's__ see…how to get out of this one… Matsu moved her legs, but to no avail did they even brush the concrete. Her determined eyes glared at the taller punk, who seemed to be contemplating her defeat. __Come on, you've gotten out of a lot worse before. And without the Millennium Bracelet. She stopped to think for a minute. __If his arms are strong enough to hold me up, than maybe…_

            She looked back up at him. _Gotta__ do this quick. Matsu started to swing her body side to side until she gained enough air to swing herself onto his arms, facing opposite him. Startled by the sudden amount of weight, Karo lost his strong grip and fell forward, sending Matsu to the ground with him. She groaned as she hit the ground, the sidewalk smacking her cheek as she skidded across it. Bakura ran over to her, helping her up. He looked her up and down; she had some scrapes on the are she fell on, and her lip was a bit bloody, but that seemed like the only damage done._

            "Thanks, Bakura," she grinned at him, keeping the eye that hit the ground shut. She wobbled out of his arms and faced the two on the ground, barely able to stand up. Matsu could barely stand herself. She wanted to badly to finish them off, but…_I can't cause a scene for myself here. No way. I can't get people talking about me again._

            She turned to look at Bakura. "They're gonna be getting up again soon. Let's just blow this joint and go somewhere else, 'kay?"

            He nodded. Then with a tone of concern, he added, "Do you need help walking? You can lean on me if you want."

            She shook her head. "Nah, it's okay. Just a scrape and a bruise. That's all." Matsu tried to make herself stand up straight. "So," she put on a smile again, "where do ya wanna go?"

            Bakura shrugged. "Anywhere really." _Just as long as it's with you. As they started walking, Bakura looked intently at her. "Um, Matsu? Where'd you learn to fight like that?"_

            Matsu looked over at him and cocked an eyebrow. "Uh…just where I used to come from. I know it looks like I know martial arts and stuff, but really, I made a lot of those moves up by strategically thinking. Like this," she held her hands out in front of her, "when the guy kicked me, I could use my free arm to block the attack, because there is a strong bone of this side of your arm, and then use the same hand to take hold of the leg. I move in close, with my other arm up just in case he punches me, but make sure he can't because I then use it to grab his jacket, turning him off balance, and using my free leg to sweep the leg that's still letting him stand. Since he's so off balance, his leg would be weak. See? It's kind of simple when you think about it step by step." Bakura nodded and remained silent. Matsu noticed the silence and spoke up. "Hey, Bakura? Why were you so afraid of those assholes? I mean, I'm a freak, so I'm not scared by anything, but you looked like you thought they were going to kill you!"

            He cringed. "I…"

            Matsu stopped and took his hand and held it. "You can tell me."

            Once again, he felt the heat coming to his face. "When I was younger, I was always the target for bullying. Even until a year ago it still went on. But then I moved her to Domino and went to the high school here. I got a really good pack of new friends. But still, even when I see a punk or a thug, it reminds me of my past."

            "Oh." Matsu let go of his hand and folded her arms, biting her lip. _Damnit, I didn't need that_. She chewed on her bottom lip until any random thought flowed through her mind. "Bakura, do you know Yugi Motou?"

            Bakura blinked. "Of course. He's my best friend."

            "Oh really? Are the other people in your group of friends named Tristan, Tea, and Joey?"

            Again he was dumbfounded. "You met them?"

            Matsu closed her eyes and gave out a shaky laugh, putting her arm behind her head. "Eheheheh…ya, you can say that…"

            "Hey, Matsu, look. They're over there!" Matsu looked at them numbly, her eyes all of a sudden growing low in luster and color. "Let's go see them." Bakura rushed off to greet them, but his voice, the sound of his footsteps, it was all becoming farther and farther away. Soon, all color was gone from her eyes, and she couldn't move…

            Meanwhile, with the others, Joey's eyes widened. 

            _Matsu__!_

            Yami's spirit stirred within Yugi. _Something here is wrong. Yugi!_

            Yugi looked into his soul. _Yami…?_

            _Quick!__ I sense danger!_

            In the basement of the Domino Museum, Ishizu lost all breath as her Millennium Necklace glowed with a premonition. When she received it, she let out a cry and covered her mouth. _No, no!__ She fell to her knees. __Matsu__…and her eyes grew diluted with anguish._

            A few blocks away, a black limo was driving down the streets. In the back seat, the CEO had his arms crossed over his chest, his head down and his blue eyes closed in deep thought. He would get to KaibaCorp, start this tournament, and then…find that damned girl.

            Unpredictably, the car screeched to a halt, nearly throwing Seto forward. He didn't have a seatbelt on. When the car finally stopped, his head hit the window to the driver's seat, throwing him back into his seat. Seto moaned, holding his injured head. The world was spiraling in his vision, even with his eyes closed. His head and neck hurt so badly.

            He jammed the button in front of him, the window to the driver falling. "What in hell was that for?!"

            "I-I'm sorry sir!" the driver cried in apology, "But a strangle man in a purple cloak just darted across the street!"

            "Then you should have just ran him over! Stupid old fool!" He sat back in his seat, trying to make his head stop pounding. But the driver's words forced his eyes wide open.

            _Man in a purple cloak?!_

            The wind was blowing hard, but her still, vacant body didn't move as only her hair and the bits of her clothes swayed in the wind. Her green eyes were dead still, but her mouth slowly opened.

            The name droned out in a hypnotized tone as the danger came nearer. "Mekhi…"


	11. Mekhi's Effect

You're Only Deceived Once

By SariaSubi-kun

**A/N: Wow, I am really sorry I haven't updated. Yes, it has been awhile, and I apologize. I've been in a little bit of a block. Anyways, here we go!**

Chapter 10

            "Mekhi…" she droned, her hair blowing in front of her empty, cold and dead eyes. The man in the purple cloak ran down the street, heading towards Yugi's group.

            _Something tells me I should warn them about that man charging down the street a soft, weary voice told her inside her head. But she didn't move, her vacant eyes a dull reflection of what was in front of her. The man was running, and he pushed through Yugi and his crowd. Slowly, as all noise and motion slowed down, he came to her, and the Millennium Bracelet glowed…_

//::// I'm over it  
You see I'm falling in the vast abyss  
Clouded by memories of the past  
At last I see //:://

            He grabbed her shoulders, shaking her violently, shouting a name she couldn't hear. She let him shake her, being tossed around like a rag doll. The bracelet pulsed, and she heard a slow beat. _Badum__, badum, badum._ A drum deep inside of her, pounding at her chest. It rang in her ears, and the bracelet glowed furiously.

            _Matsu__!_ she heard her name called. _MATSU_!!__

//::// I hear it fading, I can't speak it  
Or else you will dig my grave   
You feeling, finding, always whining   
Take my hand now be alive //:://

            "NO!" she screamed, pushing the man off her. Her eyes blazed their usual mean green color this time, holding the arm where he had pulled on her most.

            The old man in the purple cloak looked at her in horror. He murmured something to himself, then shook his head, looking at her with challenging eyes.

            "Who are you?" she snarled.

            The man stood up straight and looked at her with a menacing look. He started laughing. "You were just saying it a few moments ago, girl," he taunted in a deathly familiar voice.

            Matsu's eyes widened, her pupils shrinking into tiny dots. _What…what was I saying?! She grabbed her head, which was pulsing and throbbing, and fell to the ground. Her hands fell on the ground, and she looked at it in horror. _I can't remember! I can't remember what I said!__

            "Matsu!" She looked up slowly to see Yugi and the others rushing to her side. The man frowned deeply as he watched the teenagers run by him.

            Yugi rubbed Matsu's back. "Matsu! Matsu, can you hear me?"

            She looked at him, the color drained from her face. She barely moaned a yes. 

            Joey took her arm and threw it over her shoulder. "Tristan, help me get her up!" The two guys started to lift her. "Come on Matsu…ergh, Matsu, you weigh a ton, come on, stand up."

            "This isn't the time to talk about her weight, guys," Tea scolded them as they helped her up. She leaned in and touched Matsu's cheek. "Matsu? Matsu, come on." She pushed her shoulders lightly, but Matsu didn't move or look up. "Come on, Matsu, wake up!"

            The old man held his sides and laughed maliciously. "You can't wake her up, fools! She's in total shock!"

            Yugi and the others turned towards him and frowned. "What did you do to her!" he shouted.           

            The old man grinned. "It's not my fault. I'm simply a memory she doesn't want to remember." Matsu's face stayed frozen. "Or just one she is too weak to handle."

            Tea looked around for possible help when Bakura exclaimed, "Hey! Isn't that Kaiba?"

            _Kaiba!_ the old man hissed in his mind. _That was the limo that nearly ran me over._

            Seto stood at the end of the block, walking at a fast pace over to where the others are.

            He looked down at Matsu, his face unwavering. "What's happened here?"

            Yugi looked up at him with pleading eyes. "Kaiba! You've got to let us use your limo. Our friend Matsu's going through shock, and she won't wake up!"

            His eyes widened. _Shock?__ But how could a stubborn girl like her go into shock? Seto noticed the old man, and immediately he was angered._

            "You!" he pointed. "You idiot, you ran right in front of my limo and nearly caused an accident! I could have your head for that!"

            The man in the purple cloak laughed. "I don't think you'll have me for anything, Seto Kaiba. Now, if you all would be so kind to hand over that girl, I will leave you alone and no one else will be hurt."

            "Not a chance, freak!" Joey spat. "This is _our_ friend, and you ain't takin' her anywhere!"

            _…our friend!_

            Friend…

            She had forgotten about that word. She never had a friend because she was too busy hurting them. Back where she had come from, she had admirers, sure, but even before that…she had forced herself to forget it all. She used the word _friend_ just as a word, because it really had no meaning. But she heard it now, and it rang in her head.

            [Matsu, you must wake up. This shock has taken hold of you long enough.]

            _But__ I don't want to wake up, Krita… She was floating in darkness, her eyes cold and vacant. She moaned the words, sleepily and droningly. _Krita…I don't wanna wake up.__

_            [You must, Matsu. You must come alive again!]_

            _But__ Krita…Mekhi…I can't…_

_            Krita's voice grew angry. [Since when have you let anyone, even _family_ break you? Look at you! You're a broken porcelain doll, smashed into a million pieces! I didn't know you were this weak!]_

            It hit her. _Weak._ She remembered, a dark memory long ago, standing over the unconscious body of some kid, her foot in his back.

            _She smirked, the rain soaking her hair. "You're weak, you know that? To think you can stand up to me! Me!" She threw her head back and screamed in laughter.           _

_            She looked down at the kid again, who was struggling to get up. "The weak bugs should stay squashed on the ground. Here, let me help you."_

_            I HAVE TO WAKE UP!_

//::// You see I cannot be forsaken  
Because I'm not the only one  
We walk amongst you feeding, reaping  
Must we hide from everyone? //:://

            Joey and Tristan were thrown back on the ground, a violent wind coming out of nowhere. The others held their arms in front of their eyes, the blinding light becoming to much.

            Matsu stood straight at tall, her yellow blouse blowing behind her. Her white shirt was tight against her chest, and slowly she brought her arm in front of it, the Millennium Bracelet glowing brightly.

            "Mekhi," she growled, "how _dare_ you come back now!"

            The old man stumbled back, aghast. "You…you remembered me! I thought…I thought—"

            "You thought nothing!" The light subsided, and the wind stopped. Joey and Tristan limped up, and the others lowered their arms. It was Matsu! But how had she recovered so quickly?

            Seto narrowed his eyes. _It must be that bracelet of hers that conjured that fast recovery.__ If someone even as stubborn as __Matsu__ fell into a shock, it had to have been a shock that was near impossible to get out of._

_            Matsu narrowed her eyes. "Mekhi, just because you think Malik can completely control me, that doesn't mean he can!"_

            Yugi's eyes widened. _Who is this Malik guy? Can he be the source of evil that we have to fight against?_ Then Yami took over.

            "Matsu," Yami touched her shoulder, "we're here for you." Everyone else except Seto nodded. He just grunted and folded his arms.

            Matsu's eyebrow cocked. "Seto? Can I ask what you are doing here?"

            Joey's eyes widened. "What?! Are you saying you know Kaiba?"

            Matsu smiled and shook her head. "By unfortunate consequence." Seto frowned deeper.

            "The only reason I'm here is because this," he looked at Mekhi, "_acquaintance of yours nearly had my limo turned over."_

            Matsu bit on her lip and muttered. "You should have just ran him over. Would have done me a lot of good."

            "That's what I told my driver…" he grumbled, looking at the ground.

            "Anyways," Tristan butted in, "I don't know who this Mekhi guy is, _or this Malik guy, but either or, what are we going to do with him?"     _

            "Look," Matsu pointed, her voice calm, "he's running away."

            "What?!" Joey nearly jumped out of his clothing. "After all 'dat?!"

            "Calm down, Joey," Tea tugged at his shirt.

            Bakura stepped in front of Matsu. He held her shoulders. "Matsu! Are you okay?"

            She smiled warmly, taking his hand off her shoulder. "Yeah, Bakura. I'm fine."

            Set folded his arms and frowned at the two. He felt something hit him inside as he watched the others surround Matsu. Suddenly he was agitated and irritable, but he didn't know why.

            Grunting, her turned the heel and stalked back to his limo.

            Matsu, Yugi, Bakura and the others were walking down the street. She waved her hand "Guys, seriously, I'm fine."

            "Well, we're worried about you, Matsu," Tea told her. "You were in shock, and that isn't something to be taken lightly."

            Matsu smiled embarrassingly. "Eh…really, I can't remember being in shock…but if you say so…that's okay…" Everyone practically fell over.

            "But anyways," Tristan said, looking at Matsu intently, "who _was_ that creep? How did he know you?"

            Matsu looked down sadly, taking a deep sigh. "Well…" They found some steps and sat down. "His name is Mekhi…I know him from a while back. He's…" She shook her head, her eyes stinging. "Guys, I have to go!" She closed her eyes, and darted off, the tears that almost formed in her eyes stinging her eyes.

            _Almost_.

            The group just looked at her running of with a confused look.

            "You know guys," Joey said, "anytime we ask her something person, she runs away."

            "Just give her time," Yugi assured him. "She looks like she has a rough past."

            "Ishizu-sama!" she cried, running into the room. Ishizu looked up, startled, as the navy-headed teenager fell into her arms, bawling her eyes out.

            "Matsu!" she exclaimed, rubbing the girl's back. "This is the first time I've seen you cry!" Her voice quieted. "What happened?"

            Matsu looked up at Ishizu, her green eyes full of tears. "I saw Mekhi!"

            Ishizu's face softened as she stroked Matsu's blue hair. "Shh…Matsu, it's alright."

            Matsu looked up at her, her eyes pleading and yet hopeful for something at the same time.

            Ishizu's eyes widened, and she stopped stroking her hair.

            Our of the corner of Matsu's green eyes, she saw a small streak of crimson red…

Sorry for the shortness of this chapter. But after that cliffhanger, I can' really add more to the chapter.


	12. Tournament and Past

You're Only Deceived Once

By SariaSubi-kun

**A/N**: Sorry, SorceressVanessa, that wasn't blood! It was something else! Ooooh…what could it be? You might find out in this chapter! Remember: _crimson red eyes_.

(by the way, Irakaedu is said eer-a-kay-doo and Tou is said like 'toe')

And, I also found out how to do the é in Téa! Woor!

Another thing: I think, according to the manga, Joey's dad is either violent or drunk. And, according to the anime, Serenity's and Joey's parents split, and his mother took Serenity. So, for Joey's past, I'm making that, while the two siblings were separated, Joey's old man kicked the can, and Serenity's mom is letting her stay with Joey, alrighty? If there are any corrections you want to point out, tell me.

Chapter 11

                "I not that dumb, but I can pretend," she sang as she washed the car, singing then a slurred, "The sun is gone, dadadada," to the lyrics she didn't know. She pushed a piece of blue hair, her mouth pouting in an annoyed fashion. "The day is done, but I'm having fun. I think I'm dumb, or maybe just happy." She finished the car and it rolled on the line to the person who would dry it, then the waxing machine, etc. The car wash was a pretty fun place, as long as you could sing while you worked.

                "Miss Anazaki! Stop singing!"

                Apparently you couldn't.

                Matsu grumbled. _What, I can't even sing my lovely Nirvana? Come on._ It was hard to remember the fake last name she gave her boss, but it seemed she had to give him _something_. As long as he didn't find out it wasn't her real last name…and as long as he didn't find out she had no last name to begin with.

                "Matsu Anazaki," she griped, "sounds stupid, high-school-girlish, and just _dumb_." _Oh, what I coincidence! _she thought to herself, _I was just singing the song 'Dumb'_ "Until Mr. Sunshine ruined my day!" she groaned again, shooting an angry glare towards her new boss, Mr. Irakaedu.

                The chubby, dark skinned man in his forties hummed in approval at the new girl. "All right, Miss Anazaki," he applauded her after she helped wash another car, "very good for your first week. You can take the rest of the day off." He turned, but then looked back at her. "Come with me, I'll give you your first paycheck." Her green eyes glittering with happiness, she threw her wet cloths into a bucket and skipped behind her boss (of course, skipping is dangerous in a wet place like a car wash, so of course she fell. A lot.).

                The bruised Matsu, smiling despite of the growing bumps on her head, closed her eyes happily and awaited for Mr. Irakaedu to write the check for her. When he finished, he handed her the slip. "Take that to the cashier, Amud, up front. He'll cash it for ya."

                "Arigatou!" she smiled happily

                Matsu cashed the check in and left the car wash. It was the only job she could get easily, even if she was the only female and non-Arab there. But the people there were nice, and she picked up bits of the language when she heard them talk. She picked up a lot of the Arab and Egyptian culture from Ishizu already.

                She sighed. "And I'm what? A Japanese American?" Considering her name, which meant "pine" in Japanese, she was actually more accustomed to the Arab and Egyptian culture than the Japanese one. The only Japanese she was used to was a little of the language and the food. _Pocky, yum_ she smiled as she thought of the delicious tasting chocolate sticks.

                She looked at her check. "Money, money, money!" she smiled lazily, walking happily down the Domino streets. It was getting darker out, and she noticed an array of people gathering around the central plaza of the city. A lot of them were around her age, and they were all talking about some tournament.

                Matsu strained her hearing a little more, and then she heard the magic words.

                _Duel Monsters_.

                She stood straight, her face changing. No longer did she wear the carefree, happy, lazy mask of Matsu. An malicious smirk tugged at her lips, and her eyes glowed with malice. She snickered. _A Duel Monsters tournament.__ My, my, moving here wasn't a bad idea after all._ Matsu looked around at the duelists. There were a whole bunch of wannabes here, she could spot that already.

                If there was a tournament, there was going to be Yugi…or in this case, Yami.

                Her devious grin widened. _Not a bad idea at all…_

                Yami looked around the plaza, immediately recognizing a few of the familiar faces from Duelist Kingdom. Téa was with him, and she wrinkled her nose in disgust when she laid her eyes on Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood, revolted at their crooked grins. She just decided to stick to looking at Yami. He, at least, was good looking.

                She saw his eyebrows rise. "What is it, Yami?"

                He pointed to a familiar individual. "That is Matsu, isn't it?" Téa looked to where he was pointed. At first she didn't recognize the girl. Maybe it was because the nighttime made her hair look almost black instead of blue. But it was the same Matsu, yellow blouse and jeans.

                Téa shrugged. "We'll find out. Hey Matsu!" she called. The girl's head perked up and she looked around to hear where her name came from. She saw Téa and figured it had to be her.

                "Heyo," she grinned as she approached them. 

                "Matsu, were you an invited duelist?" Yami asked her. Even with the adjusted height, Yami was still shorter than Matsu. It slightly irked him how the only person that was shorter than him was Mokuba.

                Matsu blinked a few times before she scratched her arms. "Eh…I dunno. Maybe I'll bother Seto long enough and he'll let me duel. Dueling is fun!" The amount of sugar in that last remark made her have cavities.

                "By the way, Matsu," Téa looked at her strangely, "how exactly did you come to know Kaiba again?"

                She laughed nervously and put her hand behind her head. "Eheheh…well, if I told you, he's gonna kill me. KFC is everywhere, and I might be caught."

                A huge sweatdrop formed on both their heads. "KFC….?"

                Matsu laughed nervously. "Isn't that the logo for Seto's company?"

                Yami bit his lip. "That's _KC_. It stands for Kaiba Corp…"

                Matsu was about to say something when someone else said "Hey, Yugi," from behind them. The three of them turned around to see a girl in purple and a white tank top.

                Matsu frowned. _And__ this person is…?_

                Téa smiled brightly. "Hey, Mai!"  
                Mai winked at her and then turned to Yugi. "I guess you're here for the tournament too." Then her face turned into a sour look. "Kaiba just can't wait to prove he's better than you, can he?"

                Matsu frowned deeper. _Seto isn't like that! He's not an idiot, whoever-you-are._

                Téa rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know."

                _Wait, aren't Téa and Yugi…or Yami, whoever, Seto's friends?_

                Mai noticed Matsu standing there. "Oh? Who are you?"

                Téa smiled and was about to introduce Matsu, but Matsu jumped in ahead of her with a monotonous tone. "Matsu," she glared at Mai. She slowly extended her hand, but her green eyes were cold.

                Mai frowned as well. "Mai Kujaku." They slowly shook hands, their eyes not wavering. Téa and Yami looked on tensely. She smirked. "You have a last name with that?"

                "No, but I _do_ have two championship titles that I've held for five years." She cocked her eyebrow. "That enough?"

                They continued shaking. "Which titles?"

                "Female Duel Monsters Champion and Duel Monsters Champion of the Western United States."

                Mai stopped shaking. _Female…why haven't _I _won that? This girl must be good._

                Yami and Téa blinked. "Wow, Matsu, you serious?"

                Her pout dropped open and she looked like a rock just hit her in the head. "Eh…did I say that? Eh, whoops…"

                Yami smiled knowingly. "It's alright. I can understand if you didn't want everyone to find that out." Then he added, "That's why you have been so secretive, right?"

                Matsu bit her lip. That _wasn't_ the reason she kept evading them, but Yami was already giving her a way out of the mess, so she might as well take it. She nodded. "Yeah…er, sorry 'bout that."

                All the other duelists started gazing at the screens on the sides of the building. Matsu gaped: those screens were freaking humongous. They had those is Las Vegas, sure…but not like this…there were so _many_.

                "Greetings duelists," Seto started.

                Mai pouted. "I don't know what's bigger: his ego, or his big melon on the screen."

                Matsu frowned again. _At least it's a good looking melon. Wait, melon? Must be some Eastern term. Seto's face is too pointy to be a melon…_

                He continued on to announce the Battle City tournament and that everyone should pick up their Duel Disks, because the next day would be the tournament. Matsu hummed. "Already? Wow, tomorrow the tournament begins." She laughed. "Good thing I never have plans."

                Yami smirked. "You know Matsu, we should duel. I've never seen you before."

                "Well, you should think that a little over. I don't want you to fall out during the tournament." She turned and waved. "Let's just wait till the finals, shall we?" Matsu sighed to herself and stuffed her hands in her pocket, walking away without a look back.

                _Just you wait, pharaoh._

                Matsu sighed as she walked into the house on the side of the Domino Museum. She turned on the light to find Ishizu reading by a lamppost. She smiled lightly.

                "Guess what, Ishizu?" She held up her wrist, showing her Duel Disk, "I'm in Seto's tournament."

                The Egyptian woman looked up from her book, a smile on her face. "That's great, Matsu. I hope you'll be able to accomplish what you came here for." She stopped with a look of surprise on her face as her necklace glowed. She touched it lightly. "My Millennium Necklace tells me that Krita is back."

                "Very perceptive, Ishizu," an accented voice said from behind Matsu. "Now, if you would please tell your brother to give me my corpse back, I will be _back_ respectively." Leaning against Matsu's shoulder was the spirit form of Krita. Even though she was in spirit, she looked the same she did when she was living: she looked like an Egyptian version of Matsu, and she had an old styled dress, much like Ishizu's but without the sleeves.

                Ishizu smiled calmly. "Good evening, Krita," she greeted the spirit.

                Krita's transparent form nodded, her arms folded over her chest. "And you."

                Ishizu stood, bowing her head slightly. "It is a good thing you and Matsu have found each other. Had you done so later, things might go…let's say _out of plan_."

                Krita cocked a brow. "And I see this goes with your _other _plan? You know, the one where you try to get your brother back?"

                Ishizu sighed and looked at the ground sadly. "I was hoping that if worse comes to worse, you and Matsu could team up and fight the evil that may be unleashed." She averted her gaze to the two counterparts. "You know what I mean."

                Krita sighed. "Sadly, yes. But that will only be convenient for me when my other goals are fulfilled."

                Matsu looked at the apparition strangely. "Goals? Like what, exactly?"

                Krita "moved" off Matsu's shoulder. "They concern you as well, Matsu. Let's take your uncle, Mekhi, for one. Since he's one of Malik's minions now, he'll probably be participating in the tournament as one of those Rare Hunters." She gave a sideways glance towards Ishizu. "And that means that we can get easier access to Malik."

                Ishizu rubbed her chin and hummed thoughtfully. "Well, I still would like to have this in my own hands, however, if you _can_ get to my brother or Odeon, that would help _tremendously._"

                Krita bit her lip. "Well, I am happy that I can help, I mean, all the closer it gets me to getting my body back so I can sleep, but I didn't awaken to _help_ anyone. That isn't my incentive."

                Matsu looked at her, a little concerned. "What _is_ it then, Krita?" She looked to the floor, grimacing deeply, sadly, folding and unfolding her hands. Krita looked at her worriedly and sat on the couch next to her. "I mean, from day one, I've been told to find you, because I know the bracelet originally belongs to you. I know Malik stole your body for a while, so that made me even more want to help you. But…I wanted to help you because I know you have answers for me, Krita." She looked up, her green eyes deep with pleading and welling with the start of tears. "Don't you have _anything_ for me?"

                Krita looked uneasy at Matsu as she saw her green eyes start to become uneven and outlined in red. She looked nervously at Ishizu, who shook her head sadly. "Matsu," she whispered, "your eyes…the contacts."

                "I don't care! You two know about me! That's not the point!" she cried, more and more of the red becoming clearer as she continued to cry in frustration. "But I have the feeling, Krita, that you know more about me that even _I_ know, and I want you to tell me _everything_, NOW!"

                Krita took a step back, her legs dissolving into the couch she stepped into, but stilled herself and shook her head again, closing her eyes and letting out a slow breath. Matsu calmed down a little, wiping her eyes dry. But when she pulled her arm away, she found on her sleeve one of the green contact lenses. She glanced quickly at the mirror across the room, noticing she now had one red eye and one green eyes. Sighing, she looked back at Krita, awaiting a story from the spirit. Ishizu walked over and sat on the loveseat Krita was standing by, and looked up at her, encouraging her to tell Matsu everything.

                Joey sat on the floor of his apartment, shuffling his deck around furiously, looking for cards to make combinations with. That damned tournament was tomorrow! He just _had_ to come up with _something_.

                But after two hours of thinking so hard he was sweating, he fell back on the carpeted floor and gazed at the spiraling ceiling fan, losing all thought for the minute while the machine cooled him down. He took a deep breath and opened his chocolate eyes again, running a hand through his blonde hair.

                He thought about a lot of things. His sister, for one. Joey was hoping with all his heart that she would recover in time to see him duel at the tournament. Serenity was his one inspiration. It was because of her he entered Duelist Kingdom. It was because of her sake that he kept on dueling. She was all he had left, especially after his drunk of a dad kicked the can and his mother abandoned him. He thought about the tournament, whether there might be any challenges to him or not. There was always Kaiba and Mai, and of course Yugi, but what if there was someone else?  
                Joey smiled to himself. _No one can beat the great Joey Wheeler!_

                _Someone else_.

                Mai had called him a little earlier, and in fact, there _was_ someone else who could challenge him.

                Matsu. According to Mai, she had already two huge titles, and apparently, a stadium in her native Las Vegas that worshiped her when she dueled there, etc. It was like the West belonged to her. Mai didn't seem to like her too much, but Joey was surprised Matsu even said more than three sentences to Mai, seeing as every time _he_ ran into her, she always found some reason to run away. Not to mention all the circumstances they always found themselves in. The first time it was helping her find the Domino Museum, the second time…that weird Rare Hunter guy.

                But what bothered him the most concerning Matsu was that he kept on having that same dream about the Three Matsus. And each time he woke up, drenched in sweat, the more he needed to see her, but he couldn't understand why…

                "Matsu, I have to tell you the most important: I am your past self. I was a priestess with Ishizu's past self in Pharaoh Yami's court, Aishizu. She was the only true priestess; she was only training me. She was even serving Pharaoh Yami with High Priest Seto himself."

                Matsu blinked at the Egyptian woman. "_You _were Aishizu? The only woman in Yami's court? Oh wait…that can explain _I_shizu…Ishizu, Aishizu…yeah, I get it now. Go on, Krita-san."

                "Anyways, I was the only one who was in the arts who didn't have a Millennium Item. Yami only made seven because he had seven official priests. But I was young and restless at the time, so I strived for more. I tried to find ways to master the monsters inside the stone tablets, and I did exceptionally well, but I needed to master something even more to become one of Yami's court; I needed a Millennium Item of my own, so I could show I could handle _anything_."

                She sighed. "And so, I went gathering some of the best gold in all of Egypt. I even joined forces with that tomb robber Bakura to get some of the gold from the catacombs."

                Matsu leapt forward. "Bakura! That sweet boy couldn't do _anything_ like that."

                Krita narrowed her eyes. "Bakura's real name is Ryou. Bakura is really his last name, as that is because Bakura is a part of him that will never leave him. Bakura is the tomb robber, but as I can see, the boy Ryou calls himself Bakura. Nonetheless, Matsu, _you knew_ who I meant."

                Matsu nodded silently and let the Egyptian spirit continue. "Aishizu immediately told me to stop, but I had a dark side, and that side was so set on this power that I couldn't stop. I put numerous amounts of power into that bracelet, even power that wasn't my own.  But just as Ishizu," she gave a narrow sideways glance towards her, "has let you go at times, Aishizu was just as lenient to me. She always gave me a second chance, because I wasn't really _harming_ anyone; I was just robbing the dead and using portions of other people's life energy."

                "That still was not right and did horrors for your spirit, Krita," Ishizu interjected.

                The girl rolled her eyes and continued. "I was going to die _sometime_ or later, but anyways. When Seto betrayed Yami in that duel with him, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to step in and take his position, or at least fill in the gap. Yami was by far shocked that I had managed to create my own Millennium Item. But many mages and judges called it treachery that I would create my master's items without his knowledge and that I was going to overthrow him. I _knew_ Yami believed me, but still, he had to counsel with his judges. I was to live on the outskirts of the city until the trial.

                "Walking towards the river, alone, I was approached by a group of thieves. I thought at first it was Bakura, looking for some kind of reimbursement, but it wasn't him. It was a tall, dark man, with spiky white-blonde hair. He ordered his men to capture me. My vision went black for periods of time I couldn't count, but it was long. 

                "When I finally awoke, my body was weak from the lack of food and water. My power was drained, and I had dropped my bracelet when I was kidnapped. Even in my weak state, I knew that none of the bandits had taken it. Its signal was so far away…" She swallowed hard and let out a hitched breath. "A-Anyways, the man asked me questions about Yami, but I refused to answer. I said nothing, and his men kept on beating me. Many times I screamed, but no one heard me. My body battered and on the brink of death, with whatever strength I had left, I moved my spirit and soul into the Millennium Bracelet, and then blasted it out of Egypt, so that way, no one in that insane desert could use it if I could never."

                The navy-headed girl nodded slowly, taking everything she heard in. But even with Krita's history explained, how would this help her with her purpose of being in Domino…but wait…there was still the question of just _how_ Malik got her corpse.

                Krita seemed to read Matsu's mind, seeing as they were the same being, and said, "That man knew I could reincarnate my soul into my corpse once my spirit was reborn, seeing as only my soul was transferred into the bracelet."

                "Wait, huh?"

                "I was very far from the bracelet, Matsu. Both my soul and my spirit couldn't make the journey. My spirit was swept away and then to heavens. I was judged, and my heart, as they say in the legends, weighed more than the feather, so I was damned. But because my soul still existed in the mortal world, I was still able to reincarnate my spirit into someone so I could reincarnate my soul. The reincarnation of my spirit was you, Matsu, when you were born as Ayako Marisoki."

                Matsu's eyes darkened and her frowned deepened gravely. "You really don't need to remind me. Having to dye my hair every month and changing my contacts every other day is already a really bad reminder." She stopped for a second and fingered her spectacles. "And of course, Ayako or Matsu, I still have to wear glasses, which _really_ screw up my vision more than help because of these stupid contacts."

                Krita shook her head. "But Ayako is truly you, Matsu, you must accept that. As much as you are happy now with being Matsu, you are Ayako, and Ayako is myself reborn." Matsu didn't like one word of what she was hearing. She gave the face that told Krita that she should continue with her story and stop telling her about the past she tried to forgot many a time.        

                Krita sighed. "Anyways, I figured that if both my spirit and my soul could be remade, I could reincarnate my whole self, and prove once and for all to Yami that I am worthy of him. He uses that boy Yugi as a shell, so I am in luck because I can still see him. But, unfortunately, we all know that even Yami knows very little about his own past, and I doubt he will remember me. When he saw you, Ishizu, he didn't even remember that you were the priestess in his court."

                Ishizu shook her head. "He remembered nothing."

                "But so," Krita said, "I still have to fulfill my purpose. And because that man who kidnapped and killed me remade himself into Malik's dark side, Malik still has my body." She looked wearily at Ishizu. "But because Odeon is there, I know that spirit cannot come out. So then, does Malik even know _why_ he has that body?"

                Ishizu exhaled slowly, searching her mind for memories. "He remembers you from his childhood, so I have the feeling that his darker spirit hides within his real self and is influencing him to keep you for some reason."

                Matsu blinked her green and red eyes. "Wait, how does Malik remember you from his childhood? You weren't…I was only a kid…I don't understand."

                This time, Ishizu explained. "You know everything about the Ishtar past, Matsu. You know how the dark side of Malik was formed, you know how Odeon came to be, you know my mother died giving birth to Malik, and you know of the whole Tombkeeper's Initiation deal."

                She nodded. "Yeah."

                "Krita knows all of it as well. Although her soul was someplace else, when her spirit was reborn when you were born, which was at the same time as Malik, her spirit wandered back to Egypt, because I was reborn. That is why, at first, you did not know about her. She was seeing how Aishizu's reincarnation was developing. But I had a brother as well, which interested her, since Aishizu did not have one that we can remember. She watched him develop, and noticed quite interestedly that the Ishtar family possessed both the Millennium Necklace _and_ the Millennium Rod. This is because Seto in the past owned the rod. But as we can see, the Seto today," she added a bitter tone, "wants nothing to do with anything past his business and his victory in Duel Monsters." Matsu chuckled, but quieted down for Ishizu to go on with the story.

                "Krita became visible to me, because I was Aishizu's reincarnation, and because Malik was of my blood, could see him as well. For we guarded the tomb of Yami's physical body, and Yami was Krita's final destination. So she had all the reasons to be there, but Malik was disturbed by her presence. Krita, although she didn't always show it, didn't _want_ Malik to abandon his duty as Tombkeeper, because, of course, she _needed_ to see Yami again. But then Solomon Motou found the Millennium Puzzle, and Yami was truly reborn in Yugi, and she let everything go and concentrated on you."

                "Of course," Krita added very seriously, "by then, all the events which I will not mention because of your…_problem_ with your past happened, and many things were blown far out of the proportion I wanted. Still, even though you were Matsu then, you still had a little of the Ayako flair and dueled just like I did. That is where you get your skill from."

                Matsu furrowed her brow and snarled in anger. "_NO_, I get my dueling skills from _me_, not any _spirit_."

                Krita moaned and rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say. Still, because of Malik's turn to the dark side, he separated from his duties, as you know, but also rejected me as well, and that is when my body comes into play. Because Malik, who was my last hope since he had my _body_, turned away from everything, I went to Shadi, who had tried to persuade Malik to go back to the way he was." She rolled her eyes and her voice dripped with cynicism. "But of course, Shadi scared the poor boy, so what could we do?"

                Ishizu and Matsu both giggled.

                "Someone say my name?"

                The three girls turned around shocked to see Shadi standing in the dark corner of the room, his Millennium Ankh glowing brightly. He seemed slightly nerved about what Krita just said.

                Matsu's eyes lit up, both colors. "Shadi-sama!" She leapt off the couch and ran over to the dark corner to hug him.

                He let himself be hugged, but he was a bit shocked. He really was never _hugged_ before, except by this girl.

                Krita's spirit stood and put her hands on her hips. "Well, if that isn't one for the pictures, I don't know what is."

                Ishizu felt heat rush to her cheeks as she saw her old friend. "Oh, Shadi! What are you doing here? Isn't it late?"

                "It is already daytime in Egypt," he stated simply. "Besides, I picked up your conversation and was drawn here. Forgive me for intruding."

                Krita shook her head. "It's fine, Shadi. It is good to see you again."

                "Yes, my lady," he nodded. Ishizu nodded as well, but swallowed hard. _Of course it's good to see you again…_

__________________________________________________________

Okay, for those of you who didn't read the entire manga, or at least found snippets of it on the 'Net like I did, Aishizu (eye-shee-zoo) was the past self of Ishizu. That is probably where the WB got the name Ishizu for instead of leaving it as Isis, which is Ishizu's original name. Aishizu was a priestess in Yami's court when he was pharaoh, and was the keeper of the Millennium Necklace, or, it's original name, the Millennium Tauk. 

Another thing is, I don't know if Malik's dark self, whom I'm going to call in this fic "Marik" like everyone else (heh) existed in Ancient Egypt. I just made that up for my story. If any form of Malik lived back then, great. Whoopee.

We also get the point that Mekhi is Matsu's uncle and is one of Malik's Rare Hunters. More about his existence will be revealed later, because he is a key essential to Matsu's role in this fic.

Ayako Marisoki was mentioned in the first chapter, if you forgot, and in Shadi's first visit, you can see he called Matsu "Ayako" and when Krita first appears, we see:

                _She cocked her eyebrow. "__Matsu__, eh?"___

_Matsu__ blushed a little. "Well, I kinda had to…"_

_The girl nodded. "I understand. Well, _Matsu_, at least I found you. Do you know how much it sucks in that Shadow Realm?"___

 This shows that Krita has all her life known Matsu as Ayako and not Matsu. 

I don't wanna spoil much more, but if you want an explanation on anything, please tell me. Read, review, and by the way, more stuff:

About the couples. I know the Matsu/Seto thing was most popular with my TWO readers (haha, pathetic for me), but I think that I'm gonna put a little Matsu/Bakura (the Ryou version, of course) on the side, because we saw in the chapter where they met, he liked her immediately. And in this chapter, she calls him "sweet boy" ^_^

I'm still going to try to do the Ishizu/Shadi thing, or at least show some attraction if not a coupling. In the TV show Battle City, I only see Shadi appear to Ishizu once, and that's on the blimp, so it's kinda hard to put it in, but I'll try.

I need other pairings though. Here are suggestions that I came up with (this doesn't mean I'll put them together, though. Just _suggestions_.)

Yami/Téa, Yugi/Téa, Yami/Krita, Yami/Mai, Yugi/Main, Yugi/Matsu, Yugi/Krita

Joey/Mai, Joey/Téa, Joey/Matsu, Joey/Krita

Tristan/Matsu, Tristan/Serenity, Tristan/Téa, Tristan/Krita, Tristan/Mai

Bakura/Téa, Bakura/Serenity, Bakura/Krita, Bakura/Mai

Malik/Matsu, Malik/Téa, Malik/Krita, Malik/Mai, Malik/Serenity

You know guys, put people together who have never been put together, like I have! Be creative and think outside (the bun! Haha, Taco Bell) what you normally imagine! Anyways, tell me what you think should be added. All other Seto pairings are out because I want Seto all to myself ::hugs:: Haha, no, but there will be Seto/Matsu in it, but don't be afraid to put Matsu with someone else. Krita is also up there for a pairing, and tell me if I forgot anyone. Just think of the different possibilities and don't be afraid to think of somethin new. 

Anyways, your comments, reviews, and suggestions for the story are always accepted. I'm not so sure about adding yaoi, though…I'm not very good at it…I'll have to see. Anyways, vote, tell me what you like, and until next time, ja ne!


	13. The First Victory and Association

You're Only Deceived Once

by SariaSubi-kun

SariaSubi: Heyo, everyone! Sorceress Vanessa has been so faithful to my story, so I'm reading her stuff now, and it's good! All of you, go read it, NOW! (haha, but read MY stuff first) Anyways, here's another chapter. Sorry it's taken so long to update, but I've been working on my original fiction at fictionpress.com. My penname there, btw, is Serotamus. Go read my story "The Straight Line." It's getting a very good response!

* = means "shit" in Arabic

kuso means _damn/shit_, chikushoo means _oh fuck_ and kuso o taberu na means _eat fucking shit_

_urusai_ means _shut up_ or _be silent_ in Japanese

One more thing, at the beginning of the next chapter, I'll tell you what cards I made up and which ones are real

Chapter 11

            "Zarba*!" Matsu hissed. She stormed down the street of Battle City, an aggravated pout on her face. She had her hair up and her glasses on again, but she wore a long, long black trench coat that covered her whole body with only her boots on the bottom showing. She grumbled, pushing through the non-duelists who were in her way.

            The spirit of Krita floated on her shoulder. "Matsu, can I ask why you swear in Arabic when you're Japanese?"

            Matsu growled. "Alright! You want me to swear in Japanese? Kuso! Chikushoo! Kuso o taberu na!"

            Krita sweatdropped. "Now I'm _glad _I'm Egyptian and have no clue what you just said."

            "You don't wanna know."

            She tried to pat Matsu's shoulder for sympathy, but of course being dead, her hand passed right through. She groaned in agitation. "Well, still, Matsu, this is the first day of the tournament, and you need to pick up some innocent flesh to slaughter, if you know what I mean!"

            The navy-haired girl sighed and hugged her black coat to her. "A little later, maybe. I need to meet up with someone I know first."

            "Oh, and who?"

            Matsu shrugged. "Seto maybe, or possibly that other group." She closed her eyes happily and clasped her hands together. "Oooh, and I might see Bakura-kun again!"

            Some past her, hitting her in the shoulder hard. Matsu growled and turned around, roaring, "Hey, some people are walking here, ebn el metanaka!"

            The guy turned around. "What the hell did you just say?" he snarled.

            She grinned wildly. "I said, son of a bitch, though I shouldn't say that, it's disrespecting to your mother, who I'm sure _tried_ to raise you halfway decently. That's what _your_ son will be, the son of a bitch!"

            This guy was huge, black leather vest, black bandana tied around the back of his head, baggy jeans with tiny tears. People started backing away. He clenched his fists and grit his teeth, but then his eyes noticed something and he stood upright, a smile spreading on his thin lips.

            Matsu's eyebrow twitched. "What are you smiling at?"

            He chuckled. "Well, pretty girl, I just noticed that you have a Duel Disk on, and that means," he extended his arm out, revealing his own Duel Disk, "that you're my first opponent in this tournament!"

            Matsu studied him for a moment, but she scoffed. "Ch, I don't have time for this." She turned her back and started to walk away. "My time wasn't meant to be wasted on you," she grumbled.

            The guy rushed forward, angered. "Hey! You're gonna duel me now, girlie, or are you too afraid?"

            Matsu whirled back around. "Don't you know who I am?" she warned him. "If you had any common sense, you would know what you were getting yourself into and you would stop embarrassing yourself. Now _leave me alone!_"

            The crowd, slightly awed at the outburst, backed away as Matsu hugged her coat closer to her and stormed off.

            Farther off, Yami was walking through a small park in Battle City, scouting for new opponents. He had just helped Joey defeat a freaky Rare Hunter who had stolen Joey's Red Eyes Black Dragon. Even after he had won it back, Joey refused and asked him to put the card in _his_ deck. The two friends warned the Rare Hunters they had better be ready, and set off to find ones to duel. 

            But he was on his own again, and seemingly, there was no one around that was clearly visible. Then, out of nowhere, he heard some angry shouting. He looked to his left and saw a crowd gathered across the street, and saw them move as one of the arguing figures stalked away. Yami narrowed his eyes, which soon widened when he recognized her.

            _Matsu__!_

            Matsu grumbled, pulling on her coat collar, which wouldn't seem to come any closer to her body.

            Krita still floated above her. "You know, dear, you are going to choke yourself doing that."

            "Urusai, Krita," she snapped. "Besides," Matsu lowered her voice, "I don't need someone seeing me talking to my invisible friend."

            "Oh, that's right," Krita rubbed her chin, "people can't see me."  
            Matsu rolled her eyes. "Oh, _now_ you get it."

            "Hey, someone is in a bad mood."

            Matsu rolled her now fully-green eyes. "That minor _idiot_ is a waste of time. I mean, seriously! What do you think everyone back in LV will think?"

            "Um, 'Master Duelist Kicks Another Idiot's Butt'?"

            "No," she narrowed her eyes at the apparition, "it'll be 'Master Duelist Picks on the Little Guy and Crushes His Dreams' despite the fact he's a jackass. But you know how the press is."

            "Matsu!"

            The girl turned around and Krita quickly vanished as she turned around to see Yami standing there, and, just as she suspected, a Duel Disk strapped to his arm.

            She smiled warmly. "Ah, Ya—er, _Yugi_." She frowned at her own mistake, but quickly recovered, "Make anyone sorry yet?"

            Yami smirked. "Yep. I just defeated one of those Rare Hunters." He fell into step with her and they walked down the sidewalk. Silently behind them, Krita reappeared and discreetly floated behind them.

            "Yeah, well," Matsu said lazily, "I haven't kicked anyone's butt yet, but I'm bound to soon. As you've seen, I'm a magnet for bad news."

            Yami nodded and the two continued walking, but were interrupted when they heard a shout from behind them.

            "Hey, you! Get back here!"

            Yami stopped and looked behind him. "Who is that, Matsu?"

            Matsu frowned in disappointment, but shrugged. It was the guy from before. "Eh, someone who obviously doesn't like me," she said plainly. "As I said, bad news."

            The large guy stormed forward. "Oh, now you have a _friend_ with you. Well, I don't care! You better duel me now, or I'll make you both sorry!"

            Yami furrowed his brow, getting a little angry at this guy. "Let me deal with him, Matsu."

            "No," she retorted strongly, stepping in front of Yami. "I'm sick of you, you know that? You're getting on my nerves."

            The guy laughed bitterly. "Look, _princess_, I don't know who you are, but even if you're the Empress of China, you're going to duel me now!"

            "Alright, then! Shut up and let's get this done with!"

            Matsu extended her arm and let her Duel Disk assemble, and the guy did the same. She then smirked. "Can I ask my brave opponent's name?"

            "It's Giruku. And yours?"

            She smiled, turning her nose up with pride. "Matsu." The guy blinked for a second, but she didn't want to wait any longer. Now, she dropped her arms and let her coat open. It didn't reveal much except a blood red sleeveless and black jeans that looked identical to the kind Yami was wearing. She opened one side of the jacket, and Yami was shocked when he looked inside.

            There inside Matsu's jacket were tons of pockets, each holding a Duel Monsters deck.

            Yami gasped. "Matsu! How many decks do you have in there?!"

            Matsu pulled one out and thought for a second. "Hmm…seventeen I think. Yeah, that sounds just about right."

            The guy was a little taken aback, nonetheless, he was growing impatient. "Seventeen, seven, none, just get a deck out and let's duel already!"

            "Jeez, keep your pants on, _Giruku_." She studied her cards closely and grinned. "Alrighty then, let's duel!"

            "I go first!" Giruku announced. He drew the sixth card and grinned. "Now I put Robotic Knight, in Attack Mode!" The mechanical soldier, 1600/1800, appeared in front of the large man, roaring on appearance.

            Matsu rubbed her chin. "Mmmhmm, well, then," she puckered her lips, drawing a card. She raised her eyebrows, and then looked back at Giruku. She was acting just like she did in her duel with Seto: plain and indifferent.

            "I put my Nightmare Horse in Attack Mode as well." She placed the card down on the disk, and in an array of pixels, a horse of blue fire wrapped in mummy bandages appeared. It was, however, an extremely weak monster: 500/400.

            Giruku laughed. "_That_ is your monster? Hah!"

            Matsu bit her lip. "If you were a wise duelist, you would realize there's a catch to this." She waved her finger at him. "Always ponder the meaning of a weak monster." She then looked at her hand again. "I place this card face down, and now I'm going to attack your life points directly."

            Giruku's face fell. "_What?!"_

            "It's called a special ability." She pointed to the Robotic Knight. "Now my demon horse, attack his Life Points!" The horse galloped forward, bypassing the Robotic Knight and hitting straight on into Giruku, knocking him back and taking a 500 point bite out of his Life Points.

            Giruku eased himself up straight, groaning in irritation. Matsu only gave a short, sly grin. "You see," she adjusted her glasses and folded her arms, "my Nightmare Horse _was_ weak, but its special ability allows me to attack your Life Points directly, regardless of your monster." She signed, pushing the button on her disk. "And now I reveal my face down card, Dark Hole, which removes all our monsters from the field." Giruku grimaced as both his Robotic Knight and her Nightmare Horse were sucked into the black hole.

            Matsu smiled. "I had nothing to lose, but you, however, lost a good monster and 500 Life Points! Now we start again!"

            Yami was in thought. _That was a smart move. It's true, she only had a weak monster, but she used its special ability to hit him directly. And with her Dark Hole card, she didn't lose anything, but he lost a good monster and Life Points. Now they have to start over. I could tell,_ he looked at his dueling friend, _she was planning that move somewhere from the beginning. Hmm…she may be a more clever duelist than I thought._

            Giruku grunted. "Fine then, I draw!" He took a card out and placed it in his hand. He hummed in thought for a moment, then looked up. 

            A smile appeared on his face. "I place this card face down, and then I summon Mystic Clown (1500/1000), in Attack Mode!" 

            Matsu shook her head. "Oh come on, now! Is that the best you can do? Put a semi-weak monster out, lay down a trap card, and then expect me to attack?!"

            Yami's eyes widened.

            "Come on, Giruku, I _know_ you can do better than that." Matsu drew her card and slapped it on the disk. "Well, let's activate my card Sand Tornado, which gets rid of your Magic or Trap Card." A sand storm appeared and blew over to Giruku, revealing his card. "Oh gods, and it was Trap Hole!" Matsu chuckled and shook her head as the card was destroyed. "Seriously, that is the oldest trick in the book. I already saw _that_ coming."

            Yami narrowed his violet eyes. _It seems __Matsu__ has dueled long enough she knew that technique the moment Giruku put down his card! I wonder what else she knows. She probably knows every single basic strategy there is._

Matsu shrugged and looked at her hand. _Hmm…I could put my Firewall card down…but it's far too early. _She looked up at Giruku, who was busy studying his own hand. _But__ he could have a card that gets rid of Trap Cards, and if that happens, I'm screwed. I only have two of those cards, and I don't even know if the second one is close or at the bottom of my deck. And I didn't take my Tsuki combo deck, damnit_. She looked pensively at her cards, tensely at Giruku, then down at her hand again.

            Yami's eyebrow twitched. _Is she stuck? She looks like she has nothing to do now…but if she does nothing, she'll be wide open for attack!_

            Krita, unaware to Yami at the moment, floated behind him. Her face was deep in a frown, glancing at the pharaoh every once and a while. It was hard for her to believe that the pharaoh was right in front of her now, but now wasn't the time. Matsu's first duel was happening before both their eyes.

            Odeon stood on top of the roof, looking over at the park where Matsu's duel was taking place. He had his usual scowl on his face, but his eyes scanned the crowd, and his dark eyes widened. _It's__ the pharaoh and Krita!_ Knowing about the Egyptian priestess-to-be for a long time, he was slightly nerved at her appearance by the pharaoh. Did this mean that Yami was aware of the spirit? He didn't seem so, and Odeon was hoping he wasn't just yet. The two person team of Matsu and Krita getting back her body didn't need to increase to Yami and his friends.

            _Odeon_, he heard his master's voice in his head. He snapped back to himself and nodded.

            "Yes, Master Malik."

_            Well, tell me what is going on?_

            Malik was in his chair on his boat, his eyes closed deep in thought. Everything Odeon was seeing, he saw through his mind's eye. But he wanted Odeon to explain everything to him. He needed to make sure Odeon would be completely honest.

            **_Well,_ **he heard Odeon start in his deep voice, **_the girl _****_Matsu_****_ is right in front of me. Krita is with her…however, she is floating behind the Pharaoh_**.

            Malik's violet eyes widened. "What?!" he hissed. He jumped out of his chair, knocking it over. He gripped the base of his Rod tightly. "Are they talking?"

            Odeon seemed to think not. **_The pharaoh seems either unaware or indifferent of her appearance. Every time he seems to look her way, she disappears._**

Malik let out a heavy sigh, picking his chair up and falling back in it, running a hand through his white gold hair. "Odeon, tell me immediately if the two start talking. If that woman tells the pharaoh that I have her body, I'll be meeting with the pharaoh far before I want to."

            **_Yes sir_**.

            Malik rubbed his chin, thinking deeply over everything. He was safe for now. Without her body, Krita could do nothing physically against him, and if she didn't want the pharaoh to notice her, she wouldn't be able to get help in retrieving her body. He wanted to see the pharaoh on his own terms, not Krita's.

            He bit his lip. He was curious—"Odeon, how is Matsu doing?"

            **_Excuse me, sir?_**

            He growled in slight irritation. "The duel! How is her status?"

            Odeon fixed his eyes on the park. "She seems to be ahead, but it just started moments ago. She is right now pondering over what move to make."

            Malik hummed and leaned back in the chair, lacing his fingers together. "Alright. Just stay out of sight. I'm going to send some of my mind slaves over there. I need to know Matsu's every move, Odeon. Now that she has found Krita's spirit, she is determined to get her body back from me and stop me from taking over as Pharaoh." He grit his teeth hard, and growled. "I don't know what my sister's been feeding her, but if I lose Matsu completely, things will be turning darker on our side."

            He closed his mind link with Odeon and closed his eyes again, folding his strong, tan arms over his chest and his lavender sweater. _The last time I talked to __Matsu__, things didn't go so well. She's also against me for taking her uncle and attempting to steal her bracelet. But I can't have those obstacles in the way. I just wish there wasn't so much she was after me for…I could use her._

Then, his eyes opened wide and an evil smirk touched his lips. _Yes. Yes! Use __Matsu__!_ He laughed out loud to himself.

            "I'm a genius."

            Matsu licked her lips and chose one of the cards. _I could put all four of those down…but I can keep this one safe here, since it's for later…I just hope that Giruku doesn't play any cards that make us discard our hands._

"Alright then," she looked up at Giruku, "I place these three face down," three cards appeared in the Magic/Trap area, "and then I place this card face down in Defense mode." She let out a slow breath. "That ends my turn."            

            Yami rubbed his chin. _What could she be planning this time?_

            Giruku looked at his hand closely. Well, obviously the girl was planning something. So he had to duel wisely. He already had a monster on the field…but it wasn't sent to the graveyard yet…he grinned. Matsu made the mistake of not attacking him. He pulled a card up: this was it!

            "Well, girlie, looks like you should've attacked me! Now I can summon my all powerful card!" He slammed the card down. "Guardian Airtos!" An fierce angel-looking Wind monster appeared on the field, standing tall with 2500/2000.

            Matsu gasped, but then pointed angrily. "Hey! That monster has to have at least seven stars! You have to sacrifice a monster and—"

            "—send it to the graveyard?" he grinned. He chuckled. "Well, thanks to my monster's special ability, which you so gratefully told me about before, if no card of mine in our turns has been sent to the graveyard, I can summon this card without scarification. So now," he licked his lips, "I have two monsters on the field, and you have one hopeless monster in defense mode." He saw Matsu grimace deeply. "By the look on your pretty face, I can tell your strategy is squashed." 

            "Not exactly," she muttered. 

            He didn't seem to hear her right away. "So now that my Guardian can attack your life points, I use my Mystic Clown to attack your face down monster. Go!"

            "Not just yet!" Matsu challenged. The card flipped up, revealing Des Feral Imp, 1600/1800. "My monster's Defense Points are three hundred more than your monster's attack points, so you lose 300 Life Points!" His life points spiraled slowly down to 3200.

            _Damn_, she thought, _I'm__ attacking him very slowly. He has a strong monster on the field, I **don't**, and he'll be taking bigger chunks of my Life Points before I know it! Errrrr…_ Matsu bit her lip and looked at her disk. _Well, this is the turn to get rid of these cards…then I can play my favorite, and then Giruku won't be smiling for so long._

"Because of the Battle City rules, I can't attack yet, but next turn, oh, I _will_." He grinned. "Your turn, girlie."

            She sighed and pushed the button. "I reveal, Non-Spellcasting Area! This card negates all Magic Card's effects on all monsters except for Effect Monster. And since my Des Feral Imp is an effect monster, he can be unaffected." The only problem was, his Guardian Airtos was also an Effect Monster.

            "And now I also reveal Non Aggression Area. I must discard one card from my hand," she put the card she drew in the slot, "and now you cannot summon any monsters your next turn. So now you cannot use the power of any new monsters next turn to add to the power of your Airtos." She looked at her disk. "I will keep my Des Feral Imp in Defense Mode, but activate my third card, Monster Reborn! Now I summon back my other Effect Monster, Nightmare Horse!" The blue fire mummy horse galloped out of a vortex and reappeared back on the field.

            Matsu pointed at Giruku. "Now, my steed, attack his Life Points directly again!" Again the horse galloped forward and took 500 more Life Points from Giruku, taking him down to 2700.

            Matsu frowned. "I place three more cards face down and end my turn."

            Giruku, however, was laughing. "Ha! You shouldn't have put that weak monster back on the field. Despite it's special effect, with my Airtos, I can still swipe that pony to the Graveyard! Because now, I offer my Mystic Clown, adding its attack points to my Airtos, thanks to what you said—"

            _D'oh__!_

            "—about special abilities, the attack points _again _of my Clown are added to my Airtos, making it even _more_ powerful!" Slowly, and torturously, the attack points of the Guardian Airtos rose to 5500.

            Yami's eyes widened. _Oh no.__ That monster is now nearly unbeatable! I hope __Matsu__ can handle this. She's been playing her cards wisely, but I'm not so sure she expected this._

_            Come on, come on_, Matsu placed her hand on her deck. _I just need this one card in my next turn. What does Yami always say? Heart of the Cards? Well, you stupid heart, put this one card on my deck…_

Giruku wasn't finished. "And now, Airtos, attack her Nightmare Horse!" Matsu closed her eyes tightly as she felt the shockwave of her weak monster disappearing, sending her down to—

            "Wait!" Matsu screamed. She had her hand tight on the Magic Card button. That would've been a 5000 point loss, and that meant…she would have lost, if not for…

            "Reinforcements and Red Medicine!" The two cards sprang up, and she let out a sigh of relief. "Reinforcements adds 500 attack points to my Nightmare Horse, making it's attack 1000 instead of 500."

            Giruku grunted. "That is still 4500 Life Points lost—"

            "Will you let me continue? Red Medicine gives me 500 Life Points, which makes it a 4000 point hit. But now…" she looked down at her final card and flipped it over, "I play Friend in Need!" The final card stood and shined, depicting a girl falling down a well and holding a rope her friend was holding at the top of the well.

            Giruku gave her a strange look. "What the hell is that? I've never heard of this card!"

            Yami's eyes narrowed. He folded his arms over his chest. "Neither have I…Matsu, can you explain this card and why no one has ever heard of it?"       

            Matsu leaned back and crossed her arms and sighed. "Of course no one has; this is a rare card that is practically off the books. That Rare Hunters creeping around here, however," she gave the left and right a cautious glace, "will gladly tell you, because this is their card. I am just, eh…borrowing it." No one in the crowd made a reaction _Wow, so there aren't any Rare Hunters watching me? That's strange with someone like Malik after me and Krita. I wonder what's up._ Then her eyes darted up. She spotted a figure on top of a roof on a building across the street.

            _Odeon?! He sent **Odeon** to watch me?!_

Odeon narrowed his eyes. "So," he said to the air, "she _has_ stolen cards from the Rare Hunters. It is just like Master Malik and I have thought. I wonder if she has stolen decks as well as cards…" His eyes became slimmer with suspicion. "There _were_ all those decks in her jacket…although Matsu _has_ acquired a great deal of cards, they can't all combine to make nineteen whole decks."   

            Odeon sighed. "One more reason for us to be after her…Matsu….this new identity she puts herself in. The fearless duelist that knows no defeat. Yet she constantly puts herself in our way. The moment she sides with the Pharaoh will be the moment she becomes our enemy."

            "Friend in Need can only be activated when you are about to lose all of your life points. This card takes all the damage that you receive and gives it back to your Life Points. Meaning, my Life Points go back to 4000."

            Yami's eyes widened. _No wonder she stole something like that from the Rare Hunters! That card is very valuable._

            Giruku couldn't believe it. "You—you little skank!" 

            Matsu cocked a brow. "Excuse me?"

            "You were planning this the whole time, weren't you!" he pointed at her, causing all the audience's attention towards her. Matsu just shrugged, her indifferent front working excellently. 

            "Well, when I put Nightmare Horse on the field, I _knew_ you would attack that, and my Life Points would be in danger. But I needed a chop on your Life Points, and I had these three babies in my sand, so I said 'What the hell' and slapped 'em down." A grin tugged at her lips. "So yes. In a way, yes I did plan that whole ordeal."

            Yami observed Matsu's nature carefully. _So…__Matsu__ is a much better duelist than I thought. She plays very wisely, and must have a great deal of experience to think of something like that with such little time given._

            "And now, it's my turn, and your Airtos is gonna be no threat to me whatsoever." Matsu smirked devilishly and drew her card.

            _Perfect! This Heart of the Cards shit really does work!_ Looking back at Giruku through her specs, she straightened up and began.

            "First, I lay this baby face down, and play Card of Sanctity. This allows us both to draw until we have six cards." After playing her face down card and Card of Sanctity, Matsu only had one card left. She was pleased as the five new cards came into her hand.

            "And I think I'm going to play this monster in Defense Mode. I'm ending my turn now."

            Giruku growled. _Damnit.__ I almost had her. But now her Life Points are back to normal._ But a smirk etched on his face. _But__ hey, there's nothing to lose. She has another face down monster that's probably a last defense. Heh, pathetic. Even with a new hand, her cards are so bad._

            "Alrighty then. Airtos, go attack her face down monster!"

            Matsu's eyes widened with a maniacal glint. _Yes…YES!_

            "Reveal face down card!" she commanded, lifting her arm in the air. Springing from the ground came a card that's face was littered with flames. The attack of Guardian Airtos hit her facedown card, revealing a mummy, but a wall of fire forced the mighty beast back. Giruku grunted as his monster was forced back to his side of the field with no damage done to Matsu's Life Points.

            She grinned, and her shoulders shook as her laughed to herself, her eyes closed. Yami looked at her strangely as if she was mad. "Matsu!" he called. 

            But her arms were folded across her chest, and she continued to laugh. Giruku looked at her funny as well, and so did the rest of the crowd. From his post on the building across the street, Odeon cocked a brow. After a minute, Matsu calmed down, her head tilted downwards, but her eyes still closed, her lips still in a smirk. She took a deep breath and ran her hand through her hair, eventually coming to the hairband that held her navy blue locks up and let them loose. She opened her green eyes and smirked. Immediately, Yami thought for a second, he did not see Matsu, but Seto Kaiba there, the same expression he always worse when he went for the kill. He shook his tri-colored head furiously, trying to free the image from his mind. When he blinked his eyes back open, the image of Matsu resumed, and the duel continued.

            Matsu shook her head, her now free hair waving as her head turned. "Of all the most _obvious_ traps, I thought you wouldn't fall for that. Here you are, with a very powerful monster, almost defeated me, and you fall for the easiest trap. You attack a Defense Mode monster with a trap card laid. And how did I know you'd fall for it? How did I know!"

            Yami narrowed his eyes at the flame-riddled card, and Giruku furrowed his brow. "So what is this card anyways?"

            Matsu grinned. "I'm glad you asked. However, you are lucky we are in New York, and not in Las Vegas." The grin widened. "They would kill you there if you asked the same question." After a few strange looks, she continued. "Well, Giruku, before we dueled, I warned you that I was an identity you should be aware of. Because, however, I am on the other side of the country, barely anyone here knows who I am, what, with your Seto Kaiba and Yugi Motou to worship. However, the West has me: Matsu. Female Duel Monsters Champion and Duelist Champion of the Western United States." Her eyes narrowed, but were still filled with mirth. "Sound familiar?"

            Giruku thought for a moment, before his eyes widened with realization. "Yeah! I heard about you in on of 'dem magazines. Said that you practically have your own stadium in LV!"

            She chuckled but shook her head. "That's not _my_ stadium, but I'm, I guess you can say, highly respected there." Inside, Matsu was grinning like an idiot schoolgirl. _Shit yeah! They practically worship me there! Wow, bragging about myself if sooo fun! Seto's life must be awesome!_

"Anyways," she said, "let's get on with this duel. The card that I drew is what made me famous: the one out of two Firewalls. Firewall is a very special card. This card prevents _any_ monster, whose Attack Points can be from 0 to infinity, from attacking. If your Airtos had _one million_ Attack Points, all it's attacks would be rendered useless. This card cannot be destroyed by De-Spell, Remove Trap, Card Destruction, etc, even if it is in my hand, it cannot be sent to the Graveyard. And another little treat added to it is that every time your monster attacks my side while there is a Firewall in play, your monster receives a burn. Every turn, that burn takes away 100 Attack Points. And if you attack again with a burnt monster, the burn's damage doubles." She raised her eyebrows. "That a good enough explanation?"

            Giruku wouldn't believe it. "You're—you're nuts!"

            "And indestructible," she smirked. Her eyes narrowed and a torturous glint sparked in those eyes. "Please Giruku, do you want to try and have me receive my first loss? Think of how you'll be honored. I promise you, if you can make me loose, I will hand over my _entire_ deck to you!" She smirked. "Sound good enough?"

            Yami couldn't believe what he was hearing. _Her whole deck?__ That's ludicrous to offer! She must be really confident she's going to win to say something like that._

            Malik's violet eyes narrowed. _Offering her whole deck as the prize, and it's littered with cards she stole from **me**. That conniving little…I almost wish that fool **would** win, that way it would be much easier to access the cards __Matsu__ stole. But no…I need her to progress through this tournament. All part of my plan. If I can get her on my side, she'll be of great use to me. _

            He folded his tan arms across his chest, bowing his head and closing his eyes in thought. His hand gripped the Millennium Rod tightly. _If she wants her uncle's mind freed and Krita's body given to her, she'll come to terms with me. She **must**…_

_  
        _

Giruku refused to believe what he was hearing. "Your whole deck! But then—"

            "Do you want to continue or not?"

            Giruku shook his head furiously. _She knows she's going to win. That glint in her eyes…either way, if I go down like this…with that Firewall, there's no way to attack her, even if she has no monsters. But we'll have to continue playing, and if—_

_            --if Giruku keeps on playing yet he cannot attack me, _Matsu finished the thought_, soon he will have no more cards in his deck, and then he will be forced to forfeit. Either way, I'll whittle down his Life Points with my Direct Attack monsters, or the other way_.

            Matsu straightened herself up. "Anyways, I believe it's still my turn. Now that you have caused my Poison Mummy to flip face up, I switch him to attack mode and order him to attack your Life Points directly! Poison Mummy! Embalming of Destruction!" The mummy appeared out of the ground, and one of his dirty linen cloths unraveled from his arm and shot towards Giruku and hit him in the chest, taking 500 more Life Points away from him. He now had 2200 left.

            "You know, Giruku, I barely attack you, and somehow, here you are with a little over half left. And I will keep taking those small bits away from you, and you won't be able to stop me because you cannot attack!" She threw her head back and laughed, her navy locked falling around her slender neck. She looked down at her cards. "I play Dragon Human (**A/N: **D. Human…you know, from Kaiba's starter deck?) in Attack Mode, and I end my turn."

            Giruku frowned at Airtos' Attack Points ticked down to 5400. He drew and looked at his hand. _There's__ not much more I can do. If I summon a monster and attack, it'll do nothing but worse on my side. And even though I lose 100 Attack Points each turn, Airtos is still very powerful. Might as well…_

            "I skip this turn."

            Matsu mocked him by lifting an eyebrow. "Oh? So sad, really. Might as well go on with my turn, eh?" Yami noticed something. _Her tone of voice this part of the duel has been so mocking…she's just like Kaiba. And I even swore for a moment that Kaiba himself was standing in her place. Which makes me wonder…she said the two of them met before. I would really like to know how_.      

            "Now I play Fairy Guardian in attack mode." A small little fairy in purple clothing with a sheave in his hand, and a mace in the other, appeared with a frown on their field, 1000/1000. "The special effect of my fairy is that I can offer it to return 1 Magic Card in my Graveyard to the bottom of my deck." The fairy soon frowned deeper, but disappeared into pixels. The bottom of Matsu's deck flashed. "And now I play two cards. One, Selective Deck Shuffle. This card can allow any card that I know is hidden in my deck to come to the field or my hand, whichever I choose." Her eyes gleamed. "And I choose the field. The card I chose, Monster Reborn, shall now come forth! Monster Reborn!" The card appeared on the field and flipped up. "And I choose to bring back our favorite little pony, Nightmare Horse!" Once again, the blue-flaming mummy-horse galloped onto the field again. 

            "Nightmare horse! Attack his Life Points directly!" Another more 500 Life Points were taken from Giruku, and now he was down to 1700. He frowned bitterly.

            "Oh, but my torture isn't finished. All those who think I'm a bitch are _really_ going to hate me now." Her evil grin returned.

            Giruku moaned. "_What!_ Can't you just fucking leave me alone—"

            "No!" Matsu growled. Her face stayed dark and serious this time. "I play my other card, Replay of Turnovers." A card turned up  that showed a few medieval-looking jesters doing back flips.

            "This card is simple. If there are any Special Effects activated by the flipping up of any previously facedown monsters on the field, they are replayed. Simple? Well then, allow me to replay my Poison Mummy's 500 point attack." Giruku braced himself as his Life Points fell again, this time reaching 1200.

            He looked up with a grim look. "You already used its Special Effect this turn—"

            "Doesn't matter." Matsu sighed and looked at her hand. This time she felt tired. _I guess I should go for the slaughter in the next few turns. Make this loser go out of his misery. I guess I've put him through enough today._ But her gaze drifted up to Yami. She saw Krita floating behind Yami, and the spirit nodded at her.

            _I guess Krita really wants to prove herself to Yami, even after death…and this time, it's through me. Well, I might as well. Warn Yami of what's coming_.

            "I end my turn."

            Giruku looked at Matsu, then the small crowd behind him. Then all of a sudden, he felt the muscles in his body tense. His eyes widened, and for a moment, he couldn't move. The capability of breathing momentarily left him. Matsu and Yami seemed to notice this as if on instinct, and as if only them (and Krita of course) could see it, a eerie golden light glowed around the guy. Then, as quickly as the attack came, it disappeared. Matsu took a step forward and bent down to look in his eyes. But when he lifted his head, his eyes were dull and without emotion.

            Matsu couldn't believe it. _Malik!__ That slimy…I can't believe it! He's watching me from Odeon up there, and he's controlling this guy now! But I can beat this creep by myself…why is he…?_

Then all of a sudden, she heard a voice in her head:

            **_Matsu_****_, defeat this fool quickly and meet Odeon at the building that he is atop of. We have much to talk about._** Then his voice faded.

            In her mind, she growled, _Damn__ you Malik…_

            "I pass," the now monotonous and dead voice of Giruku-slave spoke.

            Matsu shook her head. "This is hopeless," she muttered, defeated with words. "Alright, alright, I get it." She shook her head and commanded in a bored tone, "I play Oozaki, which takes 800 Life Points away from you, then I make Nightmare Horse attack you," she yawned, "making you loose. I win. Yay." His Life Points spiraled to zero, and the images of the monsters and cards faded from the field. Matsu yawned again and walked over to Giruku-slave.

            "Give me your Locater Card and your rare card," she held out her hand.

            The slave nodded and handed her a Locater Card and Guardian Airtos. She looked down at the cards for a moment. By the time she looked back up, Malik's control had ended and Giruku had fainted.

            Some people from the crowd rushed over to held him. Matsu rolled her eyes and pushed past them, heading towards the building across the street. She had noticed Odeon had vanished from the top.

            Yami rushed over to her. "Matsu! What happened?"

            She lifted a brow at him. "Want me to honest? At the end of the duel, Malik controlled Giruku, and then he stopped. Now Giruku has fainted. And now I walk away." She turned to leave, but Yami grabbed her arm. When she looked down at him, she saw his eyes desperate.

            "You…know about Malik…and the Rare Hunters…"

            "And I have a Millennium Item on my wrist, as you can plainly see." He just nodded, but it was obvious there was shock in his eyes. "Listen, I'm sorry I haven't been all clear with you and everything, but I'm wrapped up in this whole conspiracy just as much as you are. I know who you are, Yami." She glanced nervously at the building where Odeon was waiting, then at Yami. She stepped closer to him, there bodies almost touching. Yami could feel his heart start to pound.

            Her eyes became lidded and she spoke in a whisper. "I can't tell you everything now, Pharaoh, and much of it I may never tell you, but…" She leaned in to him, her face inches away from his. "Trust me."

            Before he could react, she pulled him close and kissed him. He didn't understand it, but he let her lips fall on his and he closed his eyes, returning the kiss. Matsu popped open one eye and noticed Odeon waiting in the alley next to the building across the street. _This show is for Malik, Odeon_. She saw him frown darkly, but she closed her eyes again. Just as Yami was about to open his mouth to make the kiss deeper, she nibbled on his bottom lip and turned away. Without another word, and just a enigmatic final glace, she turned and walked away.

            "Matsu…"  
            "We'll see each other again during this tournament, Pharaoh. I wish good luck to you." She spoke to him as she continued to walk away, not looking back. 

            "And to you," but he was sure she didn't hear him. He turned away and touched his lips, still feeling hers. _I don't understand why I reacted…there's something familiar about her_.

            He felt Yugi speak. _Maybe there's something with that Millennium Item that has to do with your past_.

            Yami thought. _Maybe…___

            Matsu approached Odeon, who didn't wear a pleased expression.

            She smirked, however. "Excuse me Odeon. I had to do something to mess up his image of me."

            He just shook his head and motioned for her to follow him. The devilish look on her pale face didn't fade. She fell into step with him, and walked closely.

            "One thing, Matsu," he said, still looking forward, his face unwavering. "Must I—"

            "Just call me Ayako when the others aren't around. You Egyptians…you know everything."

            Odeon raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

            Ayako giggled. "Just as long as it's only between you, Malik, Ishizu, and Shadi. If anyone who's been to L.A. finds out Ayako Marisoki is still alive, they're gonna throw me in prison for life you know." Odeon nodded and led her out of the alley to a sidewalk that led to the train station.

            "We are taking a train to see Master Malik," he told her, already giving her a ticket.

            Ayako looked down at the ticket and leered. "I'm sure you didn't even pay for it, Odeon."

            "Ayako, why must you—" but he stopped as he looked up into her gleaming malevolent eyes and saw that she had disposed of her green contacts and wore the blood red eyes only the dead Ayako Marisoki owned. 


	14. Malik's Unwanted Compromise

You're Only Deceived Once

By SariaSubi-kun

SariaSubi: Woot! Oh yeah, I'm back on the anime side. I was really wrapped up in my original fiction, I forgot about my anime! Well, I decided I'm gonna finish YODO before I continue my other fanfics. It's easier that way. Lucky you!

::looks at audience and realizes doll labeled "SV" and a little fairy are the only ones there::

SariaSubi: sweatdrop Eheheheh…..

Chapter 14

            Odeon shifted in his long violet cloak uncomfortably for a moment then turned away. "Please, Ayako," he croaked. "Put your contacts back in."

            Matsu pouted but did as she was told, then putting her glasses back on. The two proceeded to the train station.

            When they were on the train, Matsu kept looking up from the magazine she had bought at the station at the tall Egyptian. _I swear to whatever god he believes in, that guy never friggin' smiles_.

            "Soooo," she droned, "what does good ol' Master Malik want with meh?"

            His gaze didn't waver from the window. "He has business to discuss with you. Much towards, I think, your involvement with the Pharaoh." It was obvious Odeon was trying to speak to her as little as possible.

            Matsu grinned. "Aw, Odeon, are you upset you watched me kiss 'im?"

            He shifted in his seat. "No."

            "I swear, you didn't ever go for speech and debate in high school, did you?" She chuckled to herself, but it was obvious she wasn't going to make the great stone statue move. Matsu rolled her now-green-again eyes and pushed her glasses farther up her nose. "It's amazing."

            He gave her a sideways glance. "What is?"

            "For Malik to have such an exciting partner as you. The guy wants to take over the goddamn world, and what do you want, Odeon? To just sit and look at the sky. It really makes me wonder…"

            She looked up at him again, but it wasn't the statue her eyes fell on this time. Odeon's dark eyes now blazed at her, his teeth bared as he grit them hard, trying to control his anger.

            "How…dare…you…"

            But all she did was raise an eyebrow. "Yes, how dare I. That seems to be all I do, doesn't it? I dare to get in your way, I dare to oppose you, I dare to befriend that Pharaoh." She leaned over to him so that their noses were almost touching. "But get this, Odeon. This is a little American comment we all give to each other. It's 'Fuck you, I don't give a shit.' Pretty, huh?" She leaned back in her chair and went back to her magazine. "I have no idea what my item does, but when I find out, some people are gonna get fucked, and if you get on my nerves, you'll be one of them."

            Odeon was frustrated beyond reasoning now. "You think that you can stand up against Master Malik, but you don't realize his power."

            "Yeah, I do. It's fucking zilch."

            "Don't speak about him like that!" he roared, standing up. Luckily, this train has small cabins like the old fashioned ones, and they were alone. Matsu peered at him through the rims of her glasses.

            "You know, Odeon, I really _want_ to speak of Malik like that since the slimy bastard really upset me last time I talked to him," she spat, yet not moving. "I know all the shit your family's been through, but to turn around and do shit to other families, _such as mine, mind you_, doesn't raise such a colorful flag on my side of the field."

            Malik was waiting in the boat, which was still in the dock, by the time Odeon and Matsu arrived, escorted by the other Rare Hunters. His eyes were closed, his arms folded over his chest, one hand wrapped firmly around his Millennium Rod. His ears picked up the sound of footsteps coming towards his room. He grinned slightly at the silence from Matsu—she was usually complaining before, during, and after her meetings with him.

            Odeon knocked at the door. Malik, his eyes slowly opening, uttered the command to come in, and Odeon and Matsu entered. "I have brought her here, Master Malik," the servant bowed his head.

            Malik stood. "Thank you Odeon. You may leave now."

            "Yes, master." With another bow, he turned and shut the door behind him.

            Matsu yawned and ran a hand through her hair. She looked around the room. "I didn't know you had a boat."

            He grinned. "And soon, I will have the world. Which is what we need to discuss." The Egyptian's face turned to seriousness as he took a step in her direction. His violet eyes ran over her quickly; her looks hadn't changed a bit. The still tall, lanky make up, her shoulders slightly slouched, but still didn't hide the well rounded breasts she hid under her tight shirts. When his eyes fell there, he licked his lips and swallowed.

            "You…" his voice cracked for a second, his gaze trying to wrench itself from her body. He coughed, heading back towards seriousness. "You seem to have become friendly with the Pharaoh."

            She twirled a finger in her hair. "Yeah. And?"

            Malik growled, his hand tightening. "You don't want to get me angry, not now Matsu. I'm already upset as it is, I don't need to turn you into one of my mind slaves for you to stay out of my way."  
            "And just what am I doing in your way? I like to be reminded."

            "One, your quest to rescue your uncle, two, your worthless attempts to get that priestess' body back, and the fact that you just love to be annoying."

            Matsu giggled and winked. "Ah, I love that last one."

            Malik shivered with annoyance at the wink, but continued. "Matsu. Tell me whose side you are on."

            The girl stopped acting bored and faced Malik with seriousness. "Mind if I sit down?"

            He nodded and motioned to the chair right beside his. He sat down and crossed his legs, placing his Millennium Rod on the table. It should be safe there for now. Matsu leaned back in her chair and put her legs up on the table. "Now, what was it you said again?"

            Malik frowned. "Whose side are you on? Mine, or the pharaoh's?"

            She thought for a second, her green eyes staring into space. Then she let out a slow breath. "No one's."

            "Excuse me?"

            Matsu shook her head more firmly. "_I said,_ no one's. I definitely don't want the Pharaoh to win. But I can't see the world under your rule."

            Malik furrowed his brow. "Then whose?"           

            She shrugged. "Who said this world needs a pharaoh? It's doing just fine without one."

            "But that's the thing, Matsu," Malik stood, his voice rising. "I _deserve_ to be pharaoh! My life was destroyed by waiting for that pharaoh. That guy you and Ishizu associate with even says it!"

            Matsu sighed and shook her head, standing as well. "What do you want from me, Malik? Your loyalty? You've already taken my uncle, the only answer to my past, and now you want my loyalty?" She whirled around, rage building in her eyes. "Well I say no! I am loyal to no one!" Matsu stared him down, breathing heavily. After her anger spilled out, she calmed herself, touching her burning forehead lightly. "Listen, Malik. I'm not _loyal_ to you, but I will help with whatever I find convenient, alright?"

            He nodded, but narrowed his eyes. "And the Pharaoh?"

            Matsu glared at him, narrowing her eyes even more than him, as if in a contest with his. "Don't push it, Ishtar. If something with the Pharaoh is convenient with me, maybe him." She looked at her wrist and touched her Millennium Bracelet, and it glowed. She looked back at Malik, then turned towards the door. "I pledge loyalty to none, because none have pledged to me."

            Matsu sat bored in the café. She looked outside, hoping to see one of the gang. Then her eyes hardened and she shook her head, her blue strands flying.

            _Why have I started these thoughts?_ she observed of herself. _To actually wish__ I would see someone…I do not understand it. Usually my life would be…so **devoid** of a wanting like this. To **want** friends by me._ More with hurt and hope blended, she looked out the window again. Then down at her tea.

            _Well, if I want friends, I cannot just sit here and wait. I should go out and find them._ She looked out the window of the coffee shop one last time, then got up, putting a five down on the table next to her empty teacup.

            She sighed as she walked the streets, the ends of her black coat flapping behind her. Matsu had no success finding anyone or any_thing_ worth interest. She looked in her pocket—three locater cards. Obviously, Giruku had dueled one before her. Then why had he said she was his first?

            _Probably stole the first one_, she thought as she rolled her green eyes. _Oh well, only three more to go. I can just challenge someone who has three and then just get in. But I can do it the other way, and get **more** rare cards._ She rubbed her chin and grinned. _Hmmm…good__ idea, __Matsu__._

            Matsu looked at her bracelet. "Krita-san?"

            The spirit's head poked out of the ring and blinked her large brown eyes. "Whaa? Matsu, I'm tired," she whined.

            Matsu sweatdropped. "Eheh, Krita-sa…you kinda _can't_ be tired. You don't have a physical body."

            Krita put her hands together and sighed. "Oh, but everything is so _taxing_ on my soul!" Matsu sweatdropped again. Then she brought her eyes back to seriousness. "No, seriously Krita. We must find a duelist so I can get all my locater cards." She looked inside her coat at all the decks and then turned down a corner so she could be alone with the spirit.

            "I need to know if any duelist here has a certain card."

            Krita's ghost stretched a little more out of the bracelet, before completely reforming into Matsu's size. She leaned on the nearby wall with her. "Sure. What card?"

            "Terrorking Archfiend."

            Krita blinked. "Why do you want _that_ card?"

            "Because I have an Archfiend monster, my Shadow Tamer, and I have the magic card Checkmate. The third of the trio combination needs Terrorking." She blushed in embarrassment and stared at the ground. "I, uh…kinda never found it."

            The Egyptian ghost nodded and closed her eyes, folding her hands as if in prayer. Then, in the middle of her two palms, the Eye of Horus appeared. As she lifted her arms, the eye lifted higher and higher into the sky. Matsu watched it soar against the blue dome. It twinkled once, then showed a beacon only the two girls could see in another direction. Matsu's eyes widened at the sight. Krita just looked on and slowly, with her power, brought the eye back down to her hands before it disappeared.

            When the whole ordeal was done, Matsu put her hand on her hip and smiled faintly. "Well, then. I guess it's a good thing my past self was an Egyptian priestess."

            Krita looked at her seriously. "The duelist here who holds the card you seek is a two miles northwest of here. Her name is Taori."

            Matsu blinked. "You mean me and Mai aren't the only female duelists here?"

            She shook her head. "No. Taori is not from America. She is a Japanese girl brought up in England. She has come to the United States to compete in this tournament because—"

            "Alright, alright, I don't need her biography." Matsu ran a hand through her hair. _Jeez. __England__? I thought _**_Nevada_**_ was far._ She looked back at Krita. "Well, thank you, Krita-san. I'm gonna go head over there." She took a deep breath. "Though two miles _is_ a bit to walk. Whatever."

            "She is looking for a duelist and is heading her east if she is facing north."

            Matsu rubbed her chin. "So that means I gotta go west. Alrighty, thanks Krita." As she ran her ringed fingers over the eye on her bracelet, Krita's wispy form slowly dissolved into the air.

            She thought for a moment. "I should start moving," she said to the air. Matsu turned out of the alleyway, pondering which way was west. She looked down the street and was about to cross when she saw a familiar pair coming down the sidewalk, the smaller one trudging with a suitcase.

            Matsu smiled as she saw Seto Kaiba and Mokuba approach her direction. _Wonder if they got a spare limo hangin' around…_

= in the manga and I think in the Japanese version of YGO, Shadi says when he appears to Malik after his dark side kills his father (something ELSE the American version leaves out, that the guy is DEAD) that the father's death "was the will of the pharaoh"

Just to add, I might add some stuff in here that is in the manga and Japanese versions, because the American version is uberly un-cool. Malik's voice is all whiny, and Bakura is English! For crying out freaking loud! HE ISN'T ENGLISH! 

Okay, this is how it works, direction wise

N

WE

S

Go northwest, then turn around and face North. Your east would be west on the compass rose. Matsu, who was standing in the center, had to head west in order to reach Taori, who was heading _her_ east, which was Matsu's west. Get it?


	15. Author Note

Author Note

Dear readers:

Due to a lot of mulling, I shall be completely re-making "You're Only Deceived Once" So basically, the next time I update, this won't be the same story anymore. It'll be 100x better. So hang in there. By the way, if you want me to alert you when the story is completely re-made, give me your email so I can tell you then. Don't worry, the whole plot won't completely fade. However, I feel I went about this story the wrong way than the way I wanted it to.

Here is some things that will be different:

The original Japanese names  
More Japanese references  
Less secret giveaways  
Etc

So there you have it. I hope you like the new story even better than this one. Ta-ta for now!

SariaSubi-kun


End file.
